Senior Manager - Disputes (Dubai Court Cases)

Job Objective:

The Senior Manager, Disputes is responsible for managing all legal disputes involving DET and its subsidiaries, ensuring effective resolution in alignment with the best interests of the DET. This role involves direct coordination with the Dubai Legal Affairs Department and Dubai Courts to handle and resolve disputes, while minimizing potential damage to DET's reputation and operations.

The Senior Manager will manage the review and initiation of legal actions where necessary, particularly where alternative dispute resolutions such as mediation or arbitration have failed. Additionally, the role requires ensuring compliance with court rulings and legal frameworks, overseeing the dispute team’s performance against set SLAs and KPIs, and implementing necessary improvements. This position also involves strategic partnership development with external legal entities, integration of digital technologies to streamline dispute resolution processes, and providing expert advice to enhance the team’s ability to handle complex legal challenges.

The Senior Manager is also responsible for opening cases and police reports within their jurisdiction and coordinates with the public prosecutor on any matters involving DET and its corporations.

Core Functional Responsibilities & Subject Matter Expertise

Manage the review of all legal complaints and claims against DET and its subsidiaries, which will be handled by the Dubai Legal Affairs Department and Dubai Courts and work to resolve them and any disputes in a manner which creates least damage to DET, whilst protecting its legal interests; ensure sufficient liaison takes place as needed with the concerned departments to study and settle complaints against DET and its entities.

• Manage the study of all cases warranting the filing of legal cases against third parties (where DET is the complainant) and where mediation / arbitration has failed; ensure sufficient coordination with the Legal Studies Section for support for the preparation of court cases.
• Manages the opening of cases and police reports within their jurisdiction and coordinates with the public prosecutor on any matters involving DET and its corporations.
• Manage the provision of support to the DBLC to manage disputes in relation to business owners / investors etc. that have been escalated to the courts.
• Manage coordination with the Dubai Legal Affairs Department and Dubai Courts for all matters pertaining to filed court cases (by or against DET).
• Ensure adherence with Court rulings / decisions, e.g., settlement of fines, cooperation in arbitration services.
• Ensure smooth operations across all sections within the Legislation & Dispute Sector Department, aligning with the legal guidelines set by DET and Dubai government.
• Monitor and assess the department's compliance with regulatory frameworks, making necessary adjustments to ensure adherence.
• Monitor the performance of the Disputes team in line with set service level agreements (SLAs) and key performance indicators (KPIs), and accordingly identify improvement areas, and implement corrective actions as needed to improve performance.
• Coordinate with Information Technology in order to drive digital transformation efforts and optimize the use of innovative technologies and digital solutions to enhance the ability of the complaints team in receiving and resolving disputes.
• Provide subject matter expertise, when needed, to support the team in resolving critical or complex disputes.
• Recommend partnerships with third parties such as lawyers and prosecution bodies as needed particularly for resolving issues.
• Coordinate with the concerned internal stakeholders as needed, to obtain information needed to resolve complaints raised.

Corporate Strategic Planning

• Contribute to the development of the Department’s strategy and drive overall performance through providing inputs on the section’s strategy, priorities and initiatives.
• Take onus of the Section’s achievement against set OKRs/KPIs to ensure the Section performs in line with overall performance targets.

Financial Planning & Monitoring

• Oversee the determination of the Section’s annual and long-term capital and operating budgetary requirements to ensure strategic and operational plans can be delivered.
• Take accountability for the Section’s budgetary performance, ensuring minimal divergences and that expenditures are optimized and directed towards value adding activities.

Operational Excellence & Governance 

• Lead the development of section specific policies, procedures and processes ensuring full alignment with the prevalent and applicable laws and regulations.
• Ensure the section achieves the highest level of governance and compliance with both internal (DET wide) and external policies and standards across various areas such as legal, quality, risk, cybersecurity etc. in relation to the core operations of the Department.
• Oversee the productivity and operational efficiency of resources and employees in order to maximize returns on investment in people and resources.
• Continuously seek opportunities to leverage innovative technologies and digital solutions to optimize both internal and customer facing processes, in line with Dubai government's ambitions pertaining to being a digital economy.

Advisory Support

• Provide expert advice to the director, Disputes & Court Liaison on matters pertaining to the Disputes (Dubai Court Cases).
• Help build a favorable reputation and image of DET in the public sphere locally, regionally, and internationally through representing both DET favorably.
• Support the DET in establishing deep relations across its stakeholder ecosystem which includes creating synergies and collaboration between Dubai Government Departments as well as federal level ministries and entities.
• Contribute to and support on DET wide corporate priorities and initiatives e.g., ESG related initiatives.
• Serve as a member of Committees as appointed by the CEO; attend and participate in Committees and fulfill delegated responsibilities.

People Leadership Responsibilities:

• Lead by example and role model the core values of the Dubai Government and DET in an aim to build a high performing and competent Government Department.
• Foster and instill a culture which, drives cross-functional collaboration across the functions to drive synergies in attaining strategic goals.
• Build the next generation of leaders through mentoring and coaching in order to develop the capabilities of the senior leadership team of the Entity and DET as a whole; this includes nurturing and grooming potential successors in an aim to drive business continuity.
• Ensure that the section maintains a happy working environment for employees in an attempt to support the DET achieve government level targets related to employee happiness.
• Drive the implementation of diversity and inclusion initiatives to ensure thorough participation of females and people of determination within the workforce of the section.

Qualifications & Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Law, Business Administration or any related discipline A Master's degree or MBA is highly preferred.
• Professional certifications such as Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM), Certified Legal Manager (CLM), Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP), Certified Mediator or Arbitrator are advantageous.
• Certified by the UAE Ministry of Justice and UAE official entities preferred.
• A minimum of 11 years of legal experience in a legal role with a strong focus on dispute resolution, litigation, and managing court cases.
• Proven track record of successfully managing legal disputes within a large organization or government entity, preferably in sectors related to economic development, tourism, or public administration.
• Extensive experience in coordinating with legal affairs departments, courts, and other legal entities.
• Proven leadership skills with the ability to manage and motivate a team of legal professionals.
• Experience in managing external legal counsel and coordinating with government officials.