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  • Enforcing arbitral awards in England & Wales

    Inbrief

    28 October 2021

    Where a party has obtained a favourable arbitration award in a jurisdiction other than England and Wales and the respondent to those arbitration proceedings has assets in this jurisdiction, the successful party may wish to enforce the arbitration award here. This guide will consider the steps that the successful party must take in order to be able to do so.

  • Dispute Resolution Update - October 2020

    16 October 2020

    Welcome to our October 2020 Dispute Resolution Update which collates some of our recent insights. We will be hosting our next dispute resolution webinar on the 5th November 'Trading through the pandemic: insolvency issues, risk and contractual performance.' You can find registration instructions here. Thank you for reading the October Dispute Resolution Update.

  • Important new case on disclosure, but has anyone noticed?

    28 April 2020

    Given the dominance of the coronavirus over all aspects of life, including the law, it would be easy to miss the appearance of a new case about one of the basics of litigation.

  • Geraint Lloyd-Taylor comments for BBC News, The Times and The Financial Times: Social media stars agree to declare when they post ads

    Press

    23 January 2019

    Geraint Lloyd-Taylor has commented in articles for BBC News, The Times and The Financial Times which discuss the recent agreement from sixteen social media stars to clearly state if they have been paid or received any gifts or loans of products they endorse online.

  • Supreme Court delivers key judgment on the availability of Wrotham Park “negotiating” damages

    02 July 2018

    The Supreme Court has considered an important question in relation to damages. In what circumstances can damages for breach of contract be assessed by reference to the sum the claimant could hypothetically have received, known as Wrotham Park damages, in return for releasing the defendant from the obligation he had failed to perform?

  • You’ve started – so you’ll finish

    11 June 2018

    Claimants commencing proceedings in the Courts of England and Wales may not be able to end those proceedings simply by serving a notice of discontinuance and can be required to take the matter to trial. In this case the claimants were not permitted to discontinue their claim for the recognition and enforcement of an arbitration award under the New York Convention.

  • Supreme Court upholds requirement to record variations in writing

    24 May 2018

    Rock Advertising Limited v MWB Business Exchange Centres Limited is an important case. In fact, the opening paragraph of Lord Sumption’s judgment describes it as an “exceptional” appeal, raising “truly fundamental issues” of contract law.

  • Liquidator loses protection of a freezing order following serious failings at earlier ex parte hearing

    14 May 2018

    In Banca Turco Romana S.A. (in liquidation) v Cortuk and Others, the Commercial Court in London has underlined the need for applicants to give full and frank disclosure when seeking relief at ex parte (without notice) hearings.

  • Service of a Claim Form by email – get it wrong at your peril

    27 March 2018

    Communicating by e-mail is common practice. However unless you adhere to the procedural steps required by the Civil Procedure Rules service of a claim form by email will be defective. The Supreme Court’s decision considered whether to grant relief from sanctions to an unrepresented party for failing to adhere to the procedural steps.

  • This is my advice. By the way, it might be wrong!

    05 March 2018

    When do solicitors have to warn their client that the advice they are giving may turn out to be incorrect? The Court of Appeal has recently considered this issue.

  • Early Specific Disclosure Applications – factors the court will consider

    22 January 2018

    A decision in the Technology and Construction Court (“TCC") sheds light on the applicable test for early specific disclosure and the relevant considerations in making a successful application. Applications for early specific disclosure are relatively rare so the judgment provides helpful guidance.

  • English courts and overseas defendants: jurisdiction challenges and the “two-fold test”

    15 January 2018

    When a dispute involves a foreign party or events that took place in another jurisdiction, questions often arise as to where the dispute should be determined.

  • Compulsory mediation?

    11 January 2018

    In October 2017 the Civil Justice Council (CJC) published its interim report on the future role of alternative approaches to dispute resolution (ADR). The report makes various recommendations as well as inviting responses. It follows input from a working group tasked in January 2017 to examine uptake of ADR in civil justice. The primary purpose of the report is to find ways to encourage its use.

  • Disclosure in English litigation: a sea change is coming

    09 January 2018

    English rules on disclosure (‘discovery’ in many jurisdictions) are set for a major overhaul. Draft rules were published in November 2017. Once approved by the Civil Procedure Rules Committee, the resulting draft is intended to be introduced as part of a pilot scheme lasting 2 years, potentially beginning in April 2018 and running in the Business and Property Courts. This will cover virtually all High Court litigation. It will not be optional.

  • Erosion of privilege – Law Society seeks to intervene

    08 January 2018

    The Law Society is applying to intervene in the upcoming appeal of the landmark privilege decision in Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) v Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Limited (“ENRC”).

  • Use of disclosed documents to threaten new proceedings was a breach of court rules and may amount to a contempt of court by the solicitor and client

    12 December 2017

    The Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) provide that using documents disclosed in existing proceedings (except for the specific purposes allowed) breach the rules. CPR 31.22 provides various exceptions to when a document disclosed in a set of proceedings may be used. Any use outside of the rules could also amount to a contempt of court. Both the client who relied on the solicitor’s advice and the solicitor may be equally vulnerable to the contempt proceedings where there is no evidence of deliberate or reckless misconduct by the solicitor.

  • Plain packaging: who's next?

    Press

    16 October 2017

    Senior Associate, Alan Hunt has been quoted in an article for The Grocer which assesses how the plain packaging of tobacco might impact other UK product branding.

  • "No veneer in 'ere": separating the wood from the MDF

    07 August 2017

    In what is a highly unusual volte-face, an advertiser has succeeded in turning the tables on the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

  • Service of a claim form on an agent - was it valid?

    22 June 2017

    In a recent case the High Court considered as a preliminary issue whether a claimant had validly served a claim form on what they considered was the agent of the claimant. The rules of service require that the defendant must be served at the place within the jurisdiction where it conducts business, or where it carries on its activities and which has a real connection with the claim. Therefore the question here was whether the agent’s office was a place at which the defendant conducted its business, or where it carried on its activities?

  • Marathon Asset misses the jackpot again

    12 April 2017

    After being awarded only £2 in nominal damages in its breach of confidence case, Marathon Asset has been heavily penalised on costs after failing to accept the defendants’ Part 36 offer.

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