Expert Reports & How Lawyers in Dubai Examine the Reasoning

A report can reach the correct total by the wrong route. It can also contain careful calculations that answer a question the court never asked. When an expert report arrives in a civil dispute, the headline figure usually attracts all the attention. The more useful starting point is the relationship between the assignment, the material examined and the reasoning behind the conclusion.

Lawyers in Dubai reviewing an expert report need to work through that relationship before recommending a response. A client who disagrees with the outcome should be able to identify the particular assumption or omission that matters. General dissatisfaction gives the reviewer little to investigate.

Read the assignment before judging the conclusion

Find the order or instruction defining the expert’s task and place it beside the report. Does the assignment concern valuation, account reconciliation, construction defects or another technical question? The subject determines what a useful report ought to explain. An accounting exercise should identify the transactions behind its totals. A valuation exercise should explain the valuation date and relevant assumptions.

Now compare the actual questions with the report’s answers. Sometimes a report examines all payments but says little about the particular period in dispute. Sometimes it records a defect without examining the proposed cause. The concern is the missing connection, which should be described precisely.

A lawyer in Dubai can help distinguish a technical finding from an unresolved legal issue. Whether an expense was incurred is a different question from whether the contract permits recovery of that expense. A technical calculation may be reliable while the proposed legal use of the calculation remains disputed.

That distinction prevents an objection from becoming an argument with every sentence in the report. It also identifies which points require technical explanation and which require a legal submission.

Trace the evidence used for each important finding

Choose the findings that materially affect the result. For each one, identify the supporting material cited by the expert. Follow the citation to its source rather than accepting the description in the report. A spreadsheet entry described as a payment may be a payment instruction, a reversal or a transfer between accounts belonging to the same business.

Check whether the report explains how competing records were reconciled. If one party supplied a ledger and the other supplied bank statements, the reader needs to understand why the expert accepted one record where the two differed. Merely listing both documents does not explain the choice.

Lawyers in Dubai can then identify whether the disagreement concerns authenticity, completeness or interpretation. Each concern needs a different response. A missing attachment calls for the attachment. A disputed entry needs its transaction history. A difference in meaning needs an explanation of what the record actually records.

Avoid saying that the expert ignored evidence until the report and its annexures have been checked. The material may appear under another reference or may have been considered and rejected for a reason that needs examination.

Recalculate the result without changing the assumptions

The first calculation check should use the expert’s own assumptions. This reveals arithmetic errors separately from disagreements about the method. Verify whether subtotals reconcile with the final figure, whether the same item appears twice and whether a credit was entered as a debit.

Units deserve their own attention. An hourly rate applied to days, or a monthly figure applied to an annual period, can distort an otherwise clear calculation. Currency conversions should show which currency was used at each stage. If a report applies a percentage, identify the base amount rather than checking the percentage alone.

Only after reproducing the original result should the reviewer calculate an alternative based on the disputed assumption. Mixing both exercises makes it difficult to see why the figures differ.

For lawyers in Dubai, this separation can make a response much more persuasive. It allows a submission to say that the arithmetic is accepted, while the starting balance or treatment of a particular transaction is challenged.

A hypothetical report with an overlooked adjustment

Consider a hypothetical civil dispute concerning equipment supplied for a workshop. The expert’s account schedule records an opening balance of AED 420,000 and acknowledged payments of AED 180,000. The report therefore identifies AED 240,000 as the outstanding account balance.

The buyer points to an additional AED 60,000 adjustment. A document in the annexures refers to equipment returned to the supplier. The report lists that document but does not explain whether the return produced an agreed credit, involved a disputed condition or related to a different order.

Subtracting AED 60,000 immediately would be premature. The useful response identifies the return document, the relevant equipment and the correspondence about its financial treatment. It then asks the expert to explain whether that transaction was included and, if so, where it appears in the schedule.

If the credit is supported and belongs to this account, the alternative balance would be AED 180,000. If the return did not generate an agreed credit, the legal and factual questions remain. The numerical difference gives the issue significance, but it does not decide the issue.

This is the kind of focused problem a lawyer in Dubai can analyse with the client and, where needed, a suitable technical specialist. The example is illustrative and describes no actual client matter or court outcome.

Identify assumptions that the report treats as settled

Some influential assumptions are stated plainly. Others appear only in a calculation or in the choice of a particular document. A report may assume that a property was unavailable for an entire period, that all machinery had the same condition or that every expense related to the disputed project.

The response should identify the assumption and explain why the existing evidence does not settle it. Where more than one plausible assumption is available, ask whether the expert can show the result under each supported scenario. A comparison may help the decision maker understand what depends on a disputed fact.

Lawyers in Dubai should also examine the report’s treatment of uncertainty. Estimates are sometimes necessary, but an estimate needs an identifiable basis. A calculation presented to the nearest dirham may depend on an approximate quantity. Precision in presentation cannot remove uncertainty from the input.

A useful objection makes that limitation visible without accusing the expert of misconduct merely because an estimate was used.

Turn comments into answerable questions

An effective response gives the expert something specific to answer. Identify the report paragraph, explain the disputed point, refer to the supporting material and state the clarification or correction sought. Keep each material issue separate so that its answer can be tracked.

For example, ask whether the balance includes the credit associated with a named return transaction and request the corresponding schedule entry. That is more useful than a long allegation that the account reconciliation is unfair.

The response should acknowledge findings that are accepted. If delivery dates and quantities are agreed, there is little value in surrounding the remaining issue with objections to those facts. A narrow disagreement is easier to assess when its boundaries are clear.

When comparing advisers described as the best lawyers in Dubai, ask which findings could be challenged, why they matter and what evidence could realistically change them.

Check the procedural stage before submitting a response

The report’s status matters. Determine whether it is an initial report circulated for comments, a final report filed in the case or a report produced privately by one party. Do not assume that the same response route applies to each.

Article 119 of the UAE Law of Evidence in Civil and Commercial Transactions provides for comments on an expert’s initial report. It restricts new objections after court filing to novel objections based on evidence that could arise only after the report was filed. The opportunity to comment on the initial report should therefore be checked immediately.

Lawyers in Dubai should check the actual notification, the applicable rules and any directions in the case. The available action depends on the forum, the report’s stage and the nature of the point being raised. A generic online deadline cannot replace that review.

Keep evidence of what was submitted and when it was delivered through the appropriate route. If a point has already been raised, identify the earlier submission accurately. Whether a further request is available should be assessed before the client relies on it.

Decide whether another specialist would add value

A technical specialist can help where the problem concerns valuation methodology, engineering causation or a complex accounting treatment. The purpose is to test a defined proposition. A second report that simply repeats the client’s position may add volume without resolving the underlying question.

Ask what the proposed specialist will examine, which materials are needed and how the analysis could affect the disputed finding. If the likely difference is immaterial to the claim, the additional work may have limited practical value. If one disputed assumption drives most of the result, targeted analysis could be worthwhile.

A lawyer in Dubai can coordinate the legal and technical questions so that they remain connected. The specialist should explain the technical reasoning; the legal adviser should assess how that reasoning relates to the issues before the court. Any proposed use of further material must also fit the applicable procedure.

Keep the requested next step proportionate to the problem

The eventual response should make its purpose clear. Is the client seeking correction of a duplicated item, clarification of an assumption or further examination of a missing transaction? The request should follow from the identified problem and the available procedural route.

An expert report can support parts of a case while leaving other parts unresolved. Reading it carefully helps the client understand that division and make a better decision about the next step. The task is to improve the accuracy and usefulness of the analysis, with attention to the evidence and the current stage of the proceedings.

For advice on a specific expert report, contact Dr. Hassan Elhais, Legal Consultant at Amal Al Rashedi Lawyers and Legal Consultants, through contact page. Identify the report’s current status and the date of any notification so that the response opportunity can be assessed.

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