Leading global law firm Dentons recently co-hosted a major summit in Dubai for construction industry practitioners to discuss the key challenges facing their projects in the Middle East and ways to keep them on track.

The Middle East Construction Essentials series was held in collaboration with international construction consulting firm Hill International and the Association of Corporate Counsel Middle East (ACCME).

The importance of maintaining good commercial relationships and knowing your business partners is a core theme of the popular Construction Essentials series, with more specific topics including the benefits and challenges of joint venture agreements, critical steps to maintaining positive clash flow across the partnership matrix as well as key steps to preparing loss and expense claims, said the organisers.

Speakers at the seminar included Dentons senior consultant Peter Shaw and senior associates Beau McLaren and Patrick Tweedale, as well as senior vice president at Hill International, Ben Highfield.

Andrew Jones, partner and head of construction in the Middle East at Dentons, remarked: "There are many potential issues associated with commercial relationships which are faced on construction projects. Understanding and preparing for these is an important step in keeping those relationships on track."

Concurring with Jones, Highfield said: "Being prepared is essential. Having a better awareness and understanding of the potential issues means you can take steps to finding practical solutions and successfully meet challenges head on."

Dentons said its top-rated Middle East construction team has an in-depth understanding of the nuances of each local market, stemming from more than 50 years of experience advising on major projects in the region.

The team advises across the full industry spectrum from initial entry and establishment for foreign bidders, licensing, procurement planning, contract negotiation and drafting to strategic advice during construction, claims settlement and dispute resolution.-TradeArabia News Service