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Mark Beer, OBE is Chief Executive of the Dubai International Financial Centre's Dispute Resolution Authority; Chief Executive, Registrar General and a Small Claims Tribunal judge of the DIFC Courts; and Registrar to the Dubai World Tribunal. He was awarded Officer of the Order of the British Empire in Queen Elizabeth II's 2013 Birthday honours list.
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Education
Beer studied at both King Edward's School, Birmingham and Manchester Grammar School before graduating from Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford at the University of Oxford in 1993 after studying Jurisprudence, Law. At Oxford Beer captained the joint Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and Trinity College, Oxford Rugby union side.
Career
Prior to joining the DIFC Courts in 2008, Beer was at MasterCard serving as Vice President, Sales & Corporate Services for South Asia, Middle East and Africa (Vice President, Legal Counsel, South Asia, Middle East & Africa was an earlier role). Before that he was a Corporate Finance Lawyer for Man Investments in Switzerland, and at Clyde & Co in Dubai, having previously worked as a Company Commercial Lawyer for Edge & Ellison working under Digby Jones, Baron Jones of Birmingham.
He was appointed Registrar at DIFC Courts in 2008, and a Small Claims Tribunal Judge and the Chief Executive of the DIFC Courts in 2009. Beer is also Registrar at The Dubai World Tribunal. and was appointed Chief Executive of the Dubai International Financial Centre's Dispute Resolution Authority in 2014. In 2017 Beer was appointed Registrar General to the DIFC Courts by Chief Justice Michael Hwang.
Beer was involved in negotiating the memoranda signed with other Courts including those signed with the courts in New York, England & Wales, Shanghai, South Korea, Singapore, Kenya and Australia. The DIFC Courts became the first court in the world to receive accreditation to The International Standards for Service Excellence (TISSE 2012), and the first non-Federal entity to receive 5 Stars under the UAE's Government Service Rating Scheme. The DIFC Courts has won the UAE Customer Service Award for four consecutive years, and a UK Law Society Award for Excellence in the International Legal Services.
Beer was responsible for the idea to create the DIFC's Dispute Resolution Authority, hosting the DIFC Courts, the DIFC-LCIA Arbitration Centre, the DIFC Wills and Probate Registry and the DIFC Academy of Law. The Authority was established by Dubai Law 7 of 2014 and shortly after its creation Beer was appointed Chief Executive.
As Registrar General to the DIFC Courts and Registrar to the Dubai World Tribunal, Beer has judicial powers as prescribed by Dubai Law. Those powers are explained in section 3 of the Rules of the DIFC Courts as: "Where these Rules provide for the Court to perform any act then, except where an enactment, Rule or Practice Direction provides otherwise, that act may be performed by any Judge or Registrar"
In his role as Registrar General, responsible for the day-to-day operation of the DIFC Courts and the Dubai World Tribunal, Beer has issued a number of Registrar's Directions, covering areas such as use of technology to enhance case efficiency, access to case related information, case management, legal cost determination and consolidation of cases.
As the Chief Executive of the DIFC Courts Beer was credited as one of the reasons for the DIFC Courts' success. Recognised as one of the world's leading commercial courts, it is said to be one of the major reasons for businesses to relocate their headquarters to the Dubai International Financial Centre.
Awards and recognition
Beer has twice been named in the 'Top 50 most influential Brits in the UAE' by ArabianBusiness.com. He is also listed as one of the 100 most influential people in Dubai
He has twice been shortlisted by the Law Society of England and Wales as the UK's Solicitor of the Year - In-House
Public speaking
Beer has spoken in New Zealand about the Pursuit of Excellence and Innovation in Courts and Tribunals, in Australia about the use of the International Framework for Court Excellence to improve Trust and Confidence in the Judiciary, in China to the China Executive Leadership Academy in Pudong about Dubai's role in supporting the One Belt, One Road initiative, in Singapore about the Judiciary of the Future in Malaysia to the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration as well as the Multimedia University. Beer speaks in Dubai in the area of Courts, inward investment to Dubai and the future of education. He is also a speaker in the United Kingdom about Court excellence, and at the 2016 World Education Summit.
Charity work
During Beer's time as Chairman of the British Business Group, he oversaw fundraising for charities in the UAE including Gulf for Good, Foresight, and the British Community Assistance Fund. Since then Beer has remained Vice Chairman of the British Community Assistance Fund, established as a non-profit organisation run by volunteers from the resident British community in the UAE. BCAF provides help to British subjects and their families who find themselves in distress in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, often through no fault of their own.
His work in supporting education led to his appointment as a Governor of the Dubai English Speaking School and the Dubai English Speaking College in 2011, positions which we resigned shortly after his appointment as a Governor of Dubai College in 2015. Beer remains a consultant to the Board of Governors of Dubai English Speaking School and Dubai English Speaking College.
He was appointed by the KHDA in 2015 to Chair an advisory group of Dubai's not-for-profit UK Curriculum schools. He is also on the MENA Advisory Board of City University.
Beer was Chairman of the UAE's Oxford & Cambridge Society in 2015.