Hoping to become the Middle East’s legal hub, in 2011 Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) threw open its courts to disputes from any country, provided both parties agree to be bound by its decisions. The attraction is that the courts use the English language and operate in public under English-style common law (Scotland has a different legal system). This makes the legal process more transparent and much less risky for Western firms, which are put off by the reputation of Dubai’s local civil-law courts for favouring Emiratis over foreigners, according to Will Buckby at Beale & Company, a law firm.   British lawyers in Dubai