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Stuart Paterson

Managing Partner, Middle East and Head of Middle East Dispute Resolution
Dubai Middle East

Stuart specialises in financial services disputes and corporate crime. He is skilled in arbitration and litigation, and is a member of the EMEA Disputes leadership team.

In addition to Stuart's specialist areas of practice, he has substantial general commercial litigation experience including shareholder and joint venture disputes, agency/distributorship disputes, professional negligence, employment and real estate matters. 

Stuart has broad international experience; he spent over 10 years in our London office where he acted on disputes in or arising from many countries in Europe and emerging markets in the CIS and Asia. Since 2009 he has been based in the Middle East and has acted on disputes across the GCC and wider MENA region. 

Background

Stuart joined the firm in 1998, qualifying in 2000. He has gained a wide range of experience in high value international disputes. 

Stuart served a secondment to a leading investment bank, and has strong industry knowledge. He regularly writes papers and speaks at industry conferences on commercial litigation. A solicitor advocate, Stuart is also qualified to practise in the courts of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), and has recently acted as lead advocate in DIFC – LCIA and SIAC arbitration proceedings. He is also a member of the Commercial Fraud Lawyers Association, sits on the board of the Mediation Centre in Dubai, and is an elected member of the DIFC Court Users' Committee.

Experience & expertise

Selected matters

  • an international bank on a dispute with a joint venture partner in the Middle East
  • the minority shareholders in a dispute with the majority Emirati shareholders regarding a large conglomerate, including arbitration and court proceedings in multiple jurisdictions
  • a leading global professional services practice in connection with negligence claims arising from the collapse of its former client in the Middle East
  • Tajik Aluminium Company on substantial fraud claims against its former director and trading partners, which involved litigation in the Commercial Court in London and the courts of the British Virgin Islands, and arbitrations in the UK and Switzerland
  • an Iranian-owned entity operating out of the United Arab Emirates and Iran on claims under International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration arising out of various breaches of an exclusive distributorship and licensing agreement.