Practice Overview
Disputes are an inevitable part of life. Effective and tailored resolution services are vital to protecting clients’ interests and ensuring their right to a fair trial. Our dedicated team offers expert representation in courts, alternative dispute resolution forums, and before regulatory bodies. We leverage collaborative teamwork with our other practice groups and our extensive experience with complex legal challenges to deliver these services. This enables us to address each client’s unique needs and safeguard their commercial, proprietary, and personal rights with the utmost professionalism, care, and diligence.
Our Services
- Handling contractual matters across various sectors, including performance breaches, contract interpretation, cancellation, and enforcement.
- Representing clients in disputes concerning corporate governance, shareholder agreements, and related matters.
- Addressing disputes involving real estate, land use, property rights, and landlord–tenant issues.
- Representing clients in employment disputes, including employee-initiated claims against employers.
- Protecting and enforcing IP rights, including trademarks, copyrights, patents, and trade secrets.
- Assisting clients with the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards.
- Handling financial litigation, including banking disputes, loan defaults, and regulatory enforcement actions.
- Resolving construction project disagreements, including contract breaches, delays, defects, and payment disputes.
- Assisting clients in disputes related to government tenders, public contracts, and procurement processes.
- Providing representation to NGOs in various disputes they may encounter.
Selected Experiences
- Represented a company in a high-value real estate dispute amounting to Five Billion Birr.
- Successfully defended a world‑renowned hotel brand in an intellectual property dispute.
- Represented a multinational pharmaceutical company in a USD 19 million product procurement dispute.
- Represented a foreign company in a dispute involving contract termination, late payments, and guarantee calls.
- Represented a market-leading multinational FMCG company in a multi‑million‑dollar tax dispute.
- Represented foreign and local construction companies in disputes related to road construction projects.
- Represented a foreign bank in import–export disputes involving letters of credit (LCs).
- Represented a multinational company in a multi‑million‑dollar unlawful trade competition dispute.
- Assisted a foreign mining company in securing an injunction against license cancellation.
Overview of the Ethiopian Legal Framework in Dispute Resolution
Ethiopia’s dispute resolution system comprises two main mechanisms: the judiciary and alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Judicial power is vested in federal and regional courts, both of which are organized into three tiers: First Instance, High Court, and Supreme Court. Certain regulatory bodies also exercise quasi‑judicial powers. At the federal level, the Federal Courts Proclamation No. 1234/2021 determines the jurisdiction of federal courts.
The Ethiopian legal regime is pro‑ADR. Arbitration and Conciliation Working Procedure Proclamation No. 1237/2021 promotes the resolution of disputes through ADR mechanisms. Ethiopia acceded to the 1958 New York Convention in 2020, signalling strong support for international arbitration. Various substantive laws—such as the Commercial Code, the National Payment Proclamation No. 718/2011, and the Investment Proclamation No. 1180/2020—further encourage arbitration and alternative dispute mechanisms.
Our Litigation, Arbitration, and Regulatory Practice Group has extensive experience representing clients before courts, quasi‑judicial bodies, administrative agencies, and in arbitration proceedings.
Key Contact
Yohannes Hailu
Legal Director
yohannes@mehrteableul.com
+251‑913‑62‑55‑68