Reconstruct the Egyptian transaction
Collect the contract, amendments, orders and performance records before selecting a dispute route. Date what was promised, delivered, accepted, invoiced and challenged. Different departments may hold the only original proof; collect it while preserving source and context. Build the file from original signed documents, not a slide deck. Record versions and approval history for a late variation, then note who can authenticate each item. If a receipt or acceptance is implied rather than signed, separate the inference from the record.
Separate fact from the case theory
Make a timeline with columns for agreed fact, disputed allegation, supporting document and missing evidence. Save full emails and messages rather than only screenshots. If delivery is contested, read the order, change request, acceptance and invoice together. Do not ask staff to harmonize their recollections. Keep a chronology of calls and meetings, with participants and contemporaneous notes. Flag translation needs for Arabic materials, gaps in delivery records and opposing documents already known. Restrict edits to copies so the underlying files and metadata remain intact.
Check route and immediate steps
Have Egyptian-qualified counsel read the applicable law, notice, negotiation, court or arbitration clauses against current procedure. Ask whether a notice or response has a real deadline before spending weeks polishing a narrative. Preserve existing correspondence, including any formal demand already received. Identify the parties and signatories in the actual agreements: a group-company name on an invoice may not be the contractual counterparty. Counsel should confirm the forum, any required service route and preservation of procedural rights before a notice or filing. Do not treat this checklist as a deadline calculation.
Quantify without promising recovery
Record payments, outstanding work, alleged loss and mitigation with sources. A projected figure is not the same as an invoiced debt. Compare possible negotiated and formal paths with evidence gaps, expense and enforceability. Any settlement needs defined release, payment and remaining delivery obligations. Tie each number to a contract term, invoice, payment entry or documented loss. Keep counterclaims and set-offs separately visible. Before a settlement discussion, record who can approve concessions and how any phased payment, security and release would be documented.
Dispute file to assemble
- Executed contract, amendments, orders and signatory evidence.
- Unchanged copies of communications, delivery records and payment entries.
- Chronology separating agreed facts, allegations and missing proof.
- Forum, notice and timing questions for Egyptian-qualified counsel.
- Source-backed loss schedule and settlement authority.
For related support, see dispute resolution and commercial transactions.