Digital Justice: Over 90% of DIFC Courts Hearings Conducted Remotely in 2025

In 2025, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts conducted more than 90 per cent of their hearings remotely via video conferencing, Registrar Ayesha bin Kalban confirmed. This marks a major milestone in the court’s ongoing digital transformation.

 

Speaking on the sidelines of GITEX Global 2025, bin Kalban said several new artificial intelligence (AI) services are under development and will be unveiled next year. These innovations are designed to help lawyers and litigants access judicial precedents more efficiently, enabling them to make informed decisions before filing cases, while also reducing the burden on the judicial system.

 

She explained that integrating AI into court operations involves analysing large volumes of legal data, including laws, rulings, and judicial principles, to ensure that new tools are accurate, reliable, and effective before being introduced to the public.

 

The DIFC Courts have consistently been at the forefront of digital innovation, integrating advanced technology to improve access to justice and streamline legal procedures. In the first half of 2024, the courts achieved a significant benchmark by issuing all orders and judgments digitally. Remote hearings also became standard practice, with 96 per cent of hearings in the Court of First Instance, 100 per cent in the Small Claims Tribunal, and 75 per cent in the Court of Appeal conducted virtually.

 

Beyond the courtroom, the DIFC’s Wills Service Centre, which enables non-Muslims residing or investing in the UAE to register wills, recorded steady growth during the same period, registering more than 800 wills. Complementing this service, the tejouri digital vault -- a secure online platform for storing personal and administrative documents -- has seen increasing adoption, leveraging advanced encryption and distributed ledger technologies to safeguard users’ information.

 

The DIFC’s broader innovation ecosystem has also gained momentum with the establishment of the Dubai AI Campus within the DIFC Innovation Hub. The first phase of the campus has already brought together over 75 AI-focused businesses in a 10,000-square-foot space. Plans for the second phase will expand this to over 100,000 square feet, with the aim of attracting more than 500 AI and Web 3.0 companies and creating over 3,000 specialised jobs by 2028.

 

Additionally, the DIFC has partnered with the Dubai Government Human Resources Department to develop AI-driven workforce training programmes. These initiatives are intended to strengthen the emirate’s position as a regional leader in legal technology and human capital development.

 

Together, these projects illustrate the DIFC’s vision to create a future-ready judicial ecosystem -- one that blends technology, efficiency, and accessibility to meet the evolving needs of global business and modern governance.