Horizons & Co and RIT Dubai Develop the Middle East’s First Legal AI

A genuinely Emirati legal AI, built around UAE law rather than borrowed frameworks, and developed in partnership between one of Dubai's longest established law firms and a leading regional university.

Dubai, UAE, 1 June 2026: As one of the longest established law firms in the UAE, Horizons & Co is proud to announce the development of the first legal artificial intelligence built in the Middle East. The tool will be created in partnership with Rochester Institute of Technology, Dubai (RIT Dubai), and is designed around the realities of UAE law rather than frameworks imported from elsewhere.

This is more than a product launch. It reflects a clear view of where legal practice in the region is heading: faster, sharper, and rooted in local law. Most legal technology available today is trained on foreign jurisdictions and then adapted for use here. We have taken the opposite approach, building from the ground up on the law our clients actually operate under.

The collaboration brings together two disciplines that rarely share a table. RIT Dubai contributed its engineering and applied AI expertise. We contributed nearly three decades of practice across litigation, arbitration, and corporate work. The result will be a tool shaped by how lawyers in this jurisdiction genuinely work, not by assumptions drawn from other legal systems.

The timing is deliberate. The UAE has set a clear national direction on artificial intelligence, advanced technology, and the digital economy. Law firms cannot afford to watch that shift from the sidelines. We believe local institutions should be building local solutions, and we are proud to contribute to that ambition.

“For nearly three decades we have built our practice on how UAE law works in practice, not in theory. That knowledge is what makes this different. The tool will not borrow its assumptions from somewhere else. It reflects the law our clients live with every day, and it frees our people to spend their time on the work that actually requires a lawyer.”

— Ali Al Zarooni, Managing Partner, Horizons & Co

For clients, the benefits are practical. Faster turnaround on complex matters. Sharper analysis grounded in regional precedent. More time spent on strategy and judgement, and less on the mechanical work that technology now handles well.

“This project shows what becomes possible when applied research meets a real professional need. It is exactly the kind of collaboration the country is calling for, and it has been a genuine partnership at every stage.”

— Dr Yousef M. Al-Assaf, RIT Dubai

We extend our thanks to Dr Yousef M. Al-Assaf and the RIT Dubai team, and to our own people who will be driving the project forward. We describe the goal simply: a genuinely Emirati legal AI.