Jonathon is a dispute resolution lawyer and Founding Partner at Davidson & Co. Jonathon has 22 years dispute resolution experience and has acted in all manner of disputes for institutions, developers, investors and public companies, as well as for private companies and individuals.
Jonathon’s first arrived in Dubai in March 1999 and prior to founding Davidson & Co. in October 2008, was a legal consultant at Clyde & Co, the international legal practice, based at its Dubai offices and, more latterly, Associate Legal Director of Sama Dubai, the international real estate arm of Dubai Holding.
Jonathon has significant experience of the GCC real estate market, in particular in the area of dispute resolution, having acted for many years for a range of clients in the conduct of mediations, arbitrations (DIAC, LCIA and UNCITRAL), local litigation (Dubai Court of First Instance, Court of Appeal and the Federal Court of Cassation) and the High Court of England and Wales (Admiralty, Queens Bench and Chancery Division).
Jonathon is particularly well known for his wealth of experience litigating in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts and the Dubai World Tribunal (DWT) and is often seen in the local and international business press providing case commentaries. Jonathon and his team have acted in relation to the majority of cases brought before the DWT since the tribunal’s launch and acted as counsel for the Claimants in the ground breaking case of Diamond Developers & Ors –v- Nakheel PJSC & Jumeirah Village LLC (DWT/0091/2010).
In addition to his work with the firm, Jonathon has also sat as Director of the British Business Group of Dubai and the Northern Emirates, Co-Chairman of the Joint Committee of the British Business Groups of the UAE and as Chairman of the SME Task Force, a sub-set of the UAE-UK Business Council, an economic forum established jointly by the UK and UAE governments to promote bilateral trade and commerce.
Jonathon is an also experienced arbitrator and regularly conducts arbitrations under the auspices of Dubai International Arbitration Centre and Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as well as sitting as UAE member for the IFG (www.internationalfraudgroup.com) and Legalink global network of law firms (www.legalink.ch).