<p>Marcus Wallman, Corporate Partner in the firm's Corporate Advisory group and David Yates, Head of TMT, chaired a round table discussion at the Retail City Conference which was part of the Cityscape Global event held at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre on 27 &ndash; 28 September 2011.The Retail City Conference brings together a number of local and international participants in the retail sector and what was clear from the event is that while there are certainly major causes for concern with regard to the world economy in general, the regional, and in particular the local Dubai, retail sector is proving to be remarkably resilient.&nbsp; The topic of the discussion was &lsquo;Franchising and the Law&rsquo; and a number of issues were covered, including the impact of the UAE Commercial Agencies Law on franchise arrangements, structuring and regulatory issues faced by franchisees both within the UAE and regionally when setting up their franchise operations and the impact of online retailing on existing traditional retailers and intellectual property issues which arise on the context of online retailing.</p>