Defining uncertainty: ADR options post-Brexit

• Although the very existence of a Brexit deal remains uncertain, clients need commercial advice now to define, assess and combat the risks posed by a no-deal departure on dispute resolution clauses.
• The effect of legislative changes post- Brexit on dispute resolution clauses and enforceability of English judgments.

Opining on law and Brexit brings to mind Douglas Adams’s seemingly paradoxical call in The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy , for ‘rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty’. However, given the likelihood that key legislation governing the enforceability of English dispute resolution clauses and judgments in EU27 states is almost certain to fall away post-Brexit, one such area may have arisen.