Message from the President
“2020 will of course be remembered as the year of Covid-19. When the pandemic struck in the early part of the year, the Court was quick to ensure that its users, staff and judges were protected, and that its services were not disrupted. Court proceedings were immediately moved online and continued throughout 2020 with no delays being occasioned as a result of the pandemic. The Court and Regulatory Tribunal issued, between them, 26 judgments on a variety of topics including, in particular, in relation to the law pertaining to calls on advance payment guarantees and performance bonds"
"Two important developments in 2020 concerned the launch of the QICDRC Pro Bono Service and the QICDRC Mediation Service. In respect of the latter, the QICDRC has developed and published its Mediation Rules which are available on the QICDRC website. The Service is open to all who would like to have their dispute referred to mediation and is managed by the QICDRC Registrar along with our expert panel of national and international mediators. The QICDRC Pro Bono Service provides advice and assistance to those eligible individuals who cannot afford to litigate before the Court or Regulatory Tribunal. We are immensely grateful to the law firms that are actively participating in the Service as well as to Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s College of Law for offering to provide research and administrative assistance. It is an immensely important Service and we encourage lawyers and law firms to sign up. It appears that 2021 will face many of the same challenges as 2020 although there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
— THE RT HON. THE LORD THOMAS OF CWMGIEDD, PRESIDENT
