We Mediate, Resolution by Design

We design, build and embed the infrastructure of resolution.

An independent consultancy headquartered in Dubai, serving corporates, family businesses, law firms, educational institutions and the public bodies shaping dispute resolution across the GCC, MENA and beyond.

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01 · Conflict

Conflict is inevitable.

In every organisation, family and institution, friction is the price of ambition. Left unmanaged, it erodes trust, stalls decisions and quietly drains value.

02 · Choice

How you meet it is a choice.

Resolution rarely begins at the point of crisis. It begins far earlier, in the way contracts are written, governance is built and hard conversations are handled.

03 · Design

Resolution, by Design.

We design the systems, skills and settings that prevent disputes where they can be prevented, and resolve them well when they cannot.

About Us

Resolution is not a compromise.
It is a discipline.

We Mediate works at the meeting point of mediation practice, dispute strategy and system design. We do not only resolve disputes once they happen; we build the agreements, skills and structures that keep them from happening, and that handle them well when they do.

That work runs from sitting as neutral mediators and standing as advocates for parties, to resolving conflict inside companies and family enterprises, helping law firms build their own mediation practices, and teaching the next generation to mediate in schools. Our clients are corporates, family businesses, law firms, educational institutions and the public bodies shaping how the region resolves disputes.

Every engagement is led personally by a partner, never handed to a faceless team. Between them, our partners bring the mediator's chair, the advocate's corner, four decades of family-governance counsel and a globe-spanning arbitration practice. Different vantage points, one conviction: handled well, conflict becomes a turning point rather than a loss.

"Like all disciplines, resolution must be designed with precision, independence, and a clear understanding of the human dynamics that drive conflict."

We design systems that work, not documents that sit in a drawer.

Vision

To be the region's leading independent authority on mediation and conflict resolution, and to help position the UAE and the wider MENA region as a global centre of excellence for principled, structured dispute resolution.

Mission

To deliver mediation, dispute strategy and conflict-system design of the highest calibre, and to champion mediation not merely as a legal mechanism but as a governance discipline, a commercial strategy and a force for institutional and social resilience.

Why Now

The UAE & MENA: a pivotal moment for mediation.

In a remarkably short time, the UAE has built the scaffolding of a modern mediation ecosystem: enabling legislation, institutional rules, accredited mediators and training programmes. The framework is now world-class. What remains is to turn it into everyday practice, and that gap, between a strong legal foundation and genuine, widespread use, is precisely where We Mediate works.

The legal foundation

Over the last two years, the UAE has moved decisively to make mediation a mainstream dispute-resolution mechanism. Federal Decree-Law No. 40 of 2023 on Mediation and Conciliation in Civil and Commercial Disputes, together with its 2025 implementing legislation, establishes a federal statutory foundation, including confidentiality and without-prejudice protections and a clear route for a mediated settlement to be ratified and rendered enforceable. Around that spine, a dense institutional framework has formed: the DIFC Courts' dedicated Mediation Centre under Law No. 2 of 2025; court-annexed and voluntary mediation at the ADGM Courts under Practice Direction 13; the Dubai Legal Affairs Department's move to mandate mediation advocacy and its approval to establish the Dubai International Mediation Centre; dedicated Mediation Rules issued by DIAC and Arbitrate AD; and, most recently, a new Mediation Centre announced by the Abu Dhabi Chamber. Internationally, the Singapore Convention now provides a route to cross-border enforcement of mediated settlements, and it is drawing growing UAE attention as the natural next step.

Mediation as economic infrastructure

A country's dispute-resolution system is increasingly understood as economic infrastructure. The Dubai Economic Agenda (D33) names efficient, preventive justice and alternative dispute resolution as pillars of competitiveness, and the World Bank's B-Ready methodology now links the quality and reliability of how a country resolves disputes, mediation included, directly to the benchmarks that guide foreign investment. Every step that makes mediation more credible and accessible strengthens the UAE's standing as the region's hub for business and capital.

The business and ESG case

For an individual business, the case is compelling on its own terms, and it is reinforced by the global shift toward Environmental, Social and Governance accountability. Mediation is faster, more cost-effective and more private than litigation or arbitration; control of the outcome stays with the parties rather than a court or tribunal; and the commercial relationship is far more likely to survive. Across the ESG pillars the logic compounds: fewer hearings and less travel lower the carbon footprint of prolonged proceedings (environmental); preserved relationships, employment stability and a culture of dialogue support healthier organisations (social); and demonstrated ethical leadership and responsible risk management signal the transparency and accountability investors now expect (governance).

From framework to practice

The law can require a step, but it cannot require genuine engagement. Real uptake happens only when parties trust the process, the mediators and the outcome, and that trust is built case by case, by skilled practitioners and well-designed systems. This is the work We Mediate exists to do: to help businesses, institutions and governments move from asking "is mediation possible?" to "why would we start anywhere else?", and to help shape what the region's mediation ecosystem becomes next.

Capabilities & Services

We resolve conflict, and we build the capacity to resolve it.

We sit as neutral mediators and stand as advocates for parties in dispute. We resolve conflict for companies, families, professions and individuals, and we educate the next generation of mediation users and mediators. Across every engagement, one conviction holds: resolution is a discipline, and a discipline can be designed, taught and led.

Appointments as sole mediator or co-mediator in commercial, corporate, shareholder, contractual and cross-border disputes, whether institutional, court-annexed or ad hoc. Every partner at We Mediate sits as a mediator. For complex matters we convene co-mediation teams, pairing the lead mediator with a sector specialist, a second-language mediator or a subject-matter expert as the dispute requires, and through our networks we draw on accredited mediators, local and international, across backgrounds, languages and disciplines, deploying them as needed. We practise both facilitative and evaluative mediation, calibrated to the dispute, the parties and the cultural context.

Why it matters. Most commercial disputes can settle long before judgment, but only if they reach a skilled neutral while the relationship, and the value at stake, can still be preserved. The choice of mediator, and the fit between mediator and matter, is often what decides whether that happens.

The impact. Disputes resolved in weeks rather than years; confidentiality protected; commercial relationships kept intact; and settlements that hold, enforceable across borders under the Singapore Convention and, in the UAE, through the DIFC and onshore courts.

What we offer

  • Sole and co-mediator appointments, whether institutional, court-annexed or ad hoc
  • Appointments across the rosters and panels our partners hold: World Bank Group (CAO), the ADGM Court-Annexed Mediation Scheme, the DIFC Courts' Mediators Panel and Mediation Chambers
  • Co-mediation teams matched to sector, language and subject matter
  • Access to a wider bench of accredited local and international mediators, deployed as the dispute requires
  • Complex multi-party, high-value and cross-cultural mediations

When you are a party to a dispute, we act exclusively for you. As mediation advocates, we represent clients in mediation; as settlement counsel, we lead or support negotiations toward resolution, building the strategy, testing the other side's position, and carrying the case through joint sessions and private caucus to a settlement that serves your interests.

Why it matters. Reaching the mediation table is not the same as prevailing at it. Outcomes turn on preparation, on a clear-eyed reading of each side's alternatives, and on advocacy built for a negotiation rather than a trial. That last point is its own discipline, and one most litigators are never trained in.

The impact. Stronger settlements, reached faster and at lower cost; decisions taken on a realistic assessment of risk rather than on optimism or fear; and commercial value preserved that adversarial processes routinely destroy.

What we offer

  • Representation of clients as mediation advocates in joint sessions and private caucus
  • Settlement strategy: case assessment, BATNA/WATNA and ZOPA analysis, and negotiation design
  • Pre-mediation, pre-arbitration and pre-litigation positioning
  • Coordination with external counsel on overall dispute strategy
  • Drafting and review of settlement agreements

We provide independent legal consultancy, mediation, dispute resolution and advisory services. For contentious work and court representation, we work alongside partner law firms or a licensed advocate in our network.

We help organisations resolve workplace conflict early, before it hardens into grievance, attrition or litigation, and build the internal capability to keep resolving it. The work runs from mediating individual and team disputes, through facilitating difficult conversations and rebuilding fractured relationships, to designing a standing workplace mediation scheme and independent ombuds function.

Why it matters. Unmanaged conflict is one of the most expensive and least measured costs an organisation carries, showing up in lost productivity, absence, turnover, and the slow erosion of trust and psychological safety. Most of it never surfaces until it is already a formal complaint, by which point the cheapest and most durable resolutions are gone.

The impact. Disputes resolved at the lowest possible level; managers and teams equipped to handle conflict themselves; fewer grievances, claims and departures; and a measurable strengthening of trust, collaboration and performance.

What we offer

  • Mediation of disputes involving individuals, teams, managers, staff, C-Suite and Board level
  • Facilitated conversations and team realignment after a breakdown
  • Design of standing workplace mediation schemes and escalation pathways
  • Independent, outsourced ombuds services
  • Psychological-safety, capacity-building and early-conflict training for managers

We manage conflict within family enterprises, between generations, between owners and managers, and between the family and the business itself, and help the parties reach consensus through structured communication and the use of mediation skills. Family enterprise conflict is rarely a single, contained disagreement: it is systemic, intergenerational and bound up with belonging, legitimacy and fairness. So we use mediation methodology, not a one-off mediation process, and aim for durable alignment rather than quick closure. This practice is led by our partner Walid Chiniara through his firm, Chiniara & Co., one of the world’s foremost advisors to business families, pairing his governance and succession expertise with our conflict-management capability. Together we cover the full span: preventing conflict through sound governance, and managing it when it arises.

Why it matters. In a family enterprise, the dispute is never only commercial. Ownership, management, money, identity and legacy are entangled, and what looks like a disagreement over dividends may reflect succession anxiety, power imbalance or fragile sibling trust. Handled dispute by dispute, the same issues return in new forms. Most family businesses do not survive into the third generation, and conflict, not the market, is the usual cause.

The impact. Tensions managed before they become ruptures; succession, ownership and governance questions addressed at the root rather than litigated; relational capital strengthened alongside clearer governance; and the two things a family enterprise most needs to protect, the business and the relationships, preserved together. Properly managed, conflict becomes a catalyst for maturity, shared responsibility and continuity.

What we offer

  • Intergenerational and shareholder conflict management within family enterprises
  • Facilitated dialogue and consensus-building for owners, boards and C-suites, conducted with discretion
  • Governance-crisis management and trust rebuilding
  • Conflict prevention built into family constitutions, charters and succession plans
  • Upstream governance and succession architecture through Chiniara & Co.’s 7-Step Methodology™

We help law firms move quickly to build credible, revenue-generating mediation practices. Through a structured mandate we work across three layers at once: capability, training fee-earners to advise on and conduct mediation; process, installing the internal protocols and curated mediator panel that turn training into referrals; and positioning, producing the market-facing content that establishes the firm's profile in the field.

Why it matters. The UAE has, in under two years, moved mediation from the margins to the centre of dispute resolution, through new federal legislation, the DIFC Courts' Mediation Centre, ADGM court-annexed mediation, and fresh institutional rules. The firms that build mediation capability early and credibly will lead the next decade; those that treat it as residual will be advised around. And mediation advocacy is its own discipline, one most litigators have never been trained in.

The impact. A differentiated new service line; fee-earners who can represent clients in mediation with confidence; a referral system and mediator panel that convert capability into instructions; and a public profile that signals it to the market. All of it is delivered as a fixed-scope, fixed-fee mandate.

What we offer

  • Mediation advocacy and negotiation training for fee-earners, practitioner-led and UAE-anchored
  • Internal referral guidelines and matter-identification protocols
  • Curated, independent mediator panels across style, sector, language and jurisdiction
  • Ready-to-publish website and market-facing content
  • A defined, fixed-fee scope from capability through to positioning

We design and deliver peer mediation programmes for schools, training students to mediate their peers' conflicts and training the teachers and coordinators who run the programme. Every programme is built around the culture, values, age groups, language and national education system of the individual institution, and delivered in Arabic and English.

Why it matters. Conflict resolution is a learnable skill, and the earliest, most lasting place to teach it is in school. Yet most curricula still under-deliver on social-emotional learning (SEL) and non-violent communication, the very skills that build self-awareness, empathy and the ability to disagree without aggression. Teaching young people to mediate does two things at once: it makes schools safer today, and it begins to shift a society's whole culture around conflict.

The impact. Reduced bullying, violence and disciplinary incidents; students equipped with empathy, communication and leadership skills that carry into family and community life; and a generation that grows up understanding mediation, seeding the culture of resolution that a maturing dispute-resolution system depends on.

What we offer

  • Programmes tailored to each school's culture, values, age groups and language (Arabic and English)
  • Training for student mediators and for the teachers and coordinators who run the programme
  • A curriculum grounded in SEL, restorative practice and non-violent communication, aligned to international standards
  • Sit-down and playground mediation models, with evaluation and outcome tracking
  • Support for ministries and institutions integrating peer mediation at school or national level

We train mediators, advocates and negotiators, from foundational skills to advanced practice, for professional, institutional and academic audiences, in person, online and in-house. We deliver and co-deliver accredited mediation and negotiation programmes in collaboration with established international training institutions.

Why it matters. A mediation system is only as strong as the people inside it. Across the region, demand for credible dispute resolution is now outpacing the supply of trained mediators and mediation advocates, and capability, not legislation, is the real constraint on adoption.

The impact. A deeper bench of skilled practitioners; lawyers and in-house teams able to advise on and conduct mediation; and institutions equipped to sustain their own dispute-resolution capability over time.

What we offer

  • Accredited mediation and negotiation courses, delivered with international training partners
  • Mediation advocacy for lawyers and in-house counsel
  • Negotiation and conflict-management programmes for leadership, HR and governance teams
  • Train-the-trainer and institutional capacity-building
  • Bespoke in-house programmes, in person and online
Our Partners

Practitioners, not bystanders.

Our partners sit in the room as mediators, represent clients as advocates, design the agreements that govern commercial relationships, and build the systems organisations rely on daily.

Founding Partner
Christine Maksoud, Founding Partner

Christine Maksoud

Mediator · Dispute Resolution Counsel

Christine Maksoud is the Founder of We Mediate and an accredited mediator who resolves complex family business, shareholder and commercial disputes, acting as both mediator and party representative through mediation, conciliation and settlement counselling. An IMI and CEDR Accredited Mediator and a Weinstein JAMS Fellow, she sits on the roster of mediators of the World Bank Group's Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) and on the panels of the ADGM Court-Annexed Mediation Scheme, the DIFC Courts' Mediators Panel and Mediation Chambers.

A Solicitor of England & Wales and a Lebanese-qualified lawyer with sixteen years of post-qualification experience, she has practised in the UAE since 2016. Before founding We Mediate she was Senior Counsel at Al Tamimi & Company, where she led the first dedicated mediation practice in the MENA region, and an associate at Dentons, advising on complex commercial and civil disputes, pre-litigation strategy and sensitive family business and shareholder matters, alongside extensive corporate and transactional work across the UAE and Saudi Arabia. She advises on UAE law, pre-litigation strategy and governance-related dispute prevention.

She is the Founding Member and Executive Director of The Mediation Hub MENA, a DIFC-based non-profit advancing a culture of mediation across the region. A Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, she trained at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, the Straus Institute at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, and through the UC Law San Francisco and JAMS programme, and serves on the International Mediation Institute's Appraisal and Regulatory Reform committees. She trains in mediation, negotiation and mediation advocacy for institutions across MENA and beyond, and has published on the UAE's mediation framework, including as co-author of The Mediation Guide to MENA. She works in English, Arabic and French.

CEDR Accredited MediatorIMI Accredited MediatorWeinstein JAMS FellowMCIArbWorld Bank CAO RosterSolicitor, England & WalesLebanese Qualified LawyerEN · AR · FR
Founding Partner
Gary Birnberg, Founding Partner

Gary Birnberg

Mediator & Arbitrator · Complex Commercial & Cross-Border Disputes

Gary Birnberg is a mediator and arbitrator specialising in complex commercial and cross-border disputes. A United States citizen based in Rio de Janeiro with offices in São Paulo and New York, he works in English, French and Portuguese, with a practice spanning the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

He is associated with JAMS and sits on the rosters of some twenty institutions worldwide, among them the ADGM Arbitration Centre (Abu Dhabi); the Hague Court of Arbitration for Aviation, where he was part of the founding team and chairs the Advisory Board; the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Lausanne); the Court of Arbitration for Art (CAfA); CAM-CCBC and CBMA (Brazil); CMAP (France); and KCAB International (Korea). He also works frequently with the ICC and the ICDR.

A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators and a Certified IMI Mediator, Gary is a former Chair of the CIArb Florida Chapter, the IBA Mediation Committee, the French-American Chamber of Commerce of Florida, and the Arbitration and Mediation Committee of the International Law Section of the Florida Bar. He writes frequently on ADR topics and is a Contributing Editor of the GAR Guide to Aviation and Space Disputes.

FCIArbDistinguished Fellow, IAMCertified IMI MediatorJAMSFormer Chair, IBA Mediation CommitteeEN · FR · PT
Partner
Walid S. Chiniara, Partner

Walid S. Chiniara · Chiniara & Co.

Partner · Family Business Mediation & Conflict Resolution
Leading Family Business Mediation & Conflict Resolution at We Mediate, in partnership with his firm, Chiniara & Co.

Walid S. Chiniara is a pioneer in family governance and family-office strategy, and one of the foremost advisors to business families in the Middle East. A third-generation lawyer with nearly 45 years of experience, he has advised more than 200 prominent families and single-family offices around the world on complex generational transitions, conflict prevention and the design of enduring legacies, continuing to serve many as their personne de confiance. He leads We Mediate's family business practice, delivered in partnership with his firm, Chiniara & Co.

His work sits at the intersection of governance, succession and long-term family-enterprise stability, grounded in an understanding of governance not as compliance but as the architecture that allows families, capital and institutions to endure across generations. Widely regarded as among the first to formalise conversational governance in the Middle East, he is known as the advisor families turn to for their most difficult succession mandates, and the 7-Step Methodology™ he developed is recognised by his peers as a landmark tool for family business succession planning and related conflict management.

An accredited mediator and a member of the Quebec Bar, Walid sits on the Mediators Panel of the ADGM Arbitration Centre and is a professional associate of Outer Temple Chambers in the United Kingdom. He is a Fellow of the Institute for Corporate Governance at ESCP Business School in Paris and a member of the Family Firm Institute, the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), the International Academy of Trust and Estate Law and the UHNW Institute. A published author and a regular speaker at regional and international forums, his career spans Tier-1 North American law firms, a CAC 40 multinational and a Big Four advisory firm. In 2024 he was named by FamCap the leading family business advisor in the Middle East, and among the top five worldwide.

Accredited MediatorQuebec BarADGM Mediators PanelOuter Temple ChambersFamily Firm InstituteSTEP7-Step Methodology™EN · FR · AR
How We Work

Flexible engagement.
Non-negotiable standards.

Project-Based Engagements

Defined-scope mandates, such as designing a workplace mediation scheme, building a law firm's mediation practice, standing up a school programme, or a specific piece of advisory or training.

Retainer Arrangements

Ongoing access to dispute strategy, conflict-management support or an outsourced ombuds function, for organisations that want resolution capability on call.

Mediation Appointments

Governed by a standard Mediation Agreement covering terms, fees, confidentiality and procedure, signed before every appointment.

Professional Standards & Ethics
ConfidentialityStrict confidentiality on every engagement. Information is never disclosed without explicit consent, except where the law requires it.
ImpartialityAbsolute neutrality in our mediation practice; in advisory and advocacy work, we act exclusively in our client's interests.
IndependenceWe accept no engagement where our independence or objectivity could reasonably be questioned.
Conflict ManagementA full conflict-of-interest check precedes every engagement, and the mediator and advocate roles are never combined in the same matter.
CompetenceWe take on only the work for which we hold the requisite expertise.
Aligned FrameworksOur practice aligns with the ethical frameworks of CIArb, CEDR and the International Mediation Institute (IMI).
Geographic Reach

Headquartered in Dubai.
Working worldwide.

Primary Markets

The United Arab Emirates (Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the wider Emirates), the GCC (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar) and the wider MENA region, including Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and North Africa.

International Reach

Europe, the United Kingdom and common-law jurisdictions; the Americas; South and Southeast Asia; and Sub-Saharan Africa. With partners based in Dubai and Rio de Janeiro, working across English, Arabic, French and Portuguese, we travel, convene remote sessions, and work through institutional partnerships and co-mediation.

Many advise on disputes. Few design the systems that prevent them. We Mediate is built on that combination.

When you engage We Mediate, you are not hiring a faceless firm. You work directly with the partner who will see it through, with their full attention and their name on the outcome.

Let's design your resolution.

Whether you are in a live dispute, building the capability to handle conflict before it escalates, or designing resolution into the way your organisation works, start the conversation.

Contact Us
christine@wemediate.co +971 55 274 5988
We Mediate · Dubai, United Arab Emirates