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20 January 2023 / Philip Sinel
Issue: 8009 / Categories: Features , Profession , Legal services , International
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Litigating across the Channel: is it better offshore?

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What could the English court system learn from its counterparts overseas? Philip Sinel runs through some areas for improvement
  • In the courts of England and Wales, while hearings generally progress smoothly and effectively once underway, the process of getting to court in the first place can often be held up by errors and oversights.
  • On the other hand, hearings offshore tend to be slightly less uniform in approach, but in many cases they can get underway quicker, and turnover seems lower.

Being based offshore, though often litigating in England and further abroad, I have a good vantage point to compare the service of some offshore courts to those of England and Wales.

Errors abound

Our experience of the latter is that once in court, things normally progress smoothly and as expected. Progress of hearing is effective, straightforward, and generally uniform in approach.

Getting to those hearings is a different matter. Court bundles are sent to the email address so ordered, but we need

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NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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