header-logo header-logo

Litigating through lockdown

22 July 2020 / Grania Langdon-Down
Issue: 7896 / Categories: Features , Profession , Covid-19
printer mail-detail
24674
How did the commercial litigation world cope when it had to go digital almost overnight? Grania Langdon-Down reports

Four months after the country was told to work from home, commercial litigators are starting to return to offices and court.

‘We all just want the lockdown restrictions to end but getting back to the office is going to be complex and slow—but isolating isn’t good for the soul,’ says senior litigator and NLJ consultant editor David Greene. He warns the stress caused by the pandemic and its fall out must be addressed as firms and chambers look for a path out of the crisis.

But Greene, senior partner at Edwin Coe, and fellow litigators across the legal community say there have also been some very positive lessons from the lockdown which they hope will lead to lasting change, including an improved work/life balance.

So how did the commercial litigation world cope when it had to go digital almost overnight?

Essential service

As COVID-19 tightened its grip on the UK, the government made

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll