Thomson Reuters, a leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, has launched Westlaw Gulf, a legal research service created specifically for professionals in the Middle East.

The new Westlaw Gulf service offers a full suite of legal research tools and an unrivaled database of legislation and cases for lawyers operating across the Gulf region.

The service is built upon the Westlaw technology, and modeled after market leading Thomson Reuters legal information services in the UK, United States, India, Asia and South America.

Westlaw Gulf provides lawyers with expertly written English translations of over 8,000 of the most commercially relevant and widely used laws from major Gulf States, including Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

In addition, the service includes a searchable database of 23,000 laws from across the UAE and 3,000 laws from Qatar, providing lawyers with access to thousands of translated principles of cases from key courts, reducing valuable time spent on lengthy legal research.

Westlaw Gulf provides access to important legal principles from courts such as Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts, Dubai Court of Cassation, Abu Dhabi Court of Cassation, and Union Supreme Court (Federal).

A unique feature of the Westlaw Gulf service is the assistance offered to users who have translation and research requests.

Helen Owers, chief development officer, strategic markets for Thomson Reuters, said: “Westlaw Gulf will radically improve the way that lawyers work in the Gulf by offering the most comprehensive source of laws covering the region.'

'Westlaw Gulf will increase the speed at which a lawyer can work and will be a real boost to the accuracy and depth of information that lawyers can access on Gulf law.”

“During the past several years, Thomson Reuters has made significant investments in products for professionals in the Gulf region,” said Jim Smith, chief operating officer.

Westlaw Gulf will be featured at the International Bar Association annual meeting in Dubai from October 30 to November 4.-TradeArabia News Service