header-logo header-logo

London litigation post-Brexit

29 July 2016
Issue: 7709 / Categories: Legal News
printer mail-detail

LSLA president: lawyers must act to avoid potential damage

Brexit-related uncertainties have the capacity to damage London’s status as a global centre for litigation, the president of the London Solicitors Litigation Association (LSLA) has said.

Writing in NLJ this week, Ed Crosse warns that other litigation hubs are already seeking to capitalise on the referendum result. Crosse says: “It is vital that as a profession we work to meet that head on.”

He says the reasons for London’s popularity remain “almost entirely intact”—a record of impartiality, its commercial judiciary, its legal talent and the fact its legal system is attuned to the realities of international commerce and finance. Moreover, English contract law is likely to continue to be widely used.

On choice of law, Crosse says the courts of EU member states will still be bound by choice of law in accordance with the Rome I and Rome II Regulations, and there is no reason why the UK should not adopt the same approach. This would “ensure continuity and certainty on which law will apply”.

Since the issues facing the London litigation market are unlikely to be high-priority for the government, however, it is “incumbent on lawyers (and the judiciary) to defend the UK’s position and our clients, by reaching a consensus on what needs to be done as soon as possible, and then presenting to the government any steps it needs to take”. For example, Crosse suggests that an early statement from the government that it intends to sign the Hague Convention as soon as the UK leaves the EU would ensure that “a fall-back position is established in choice of jurisdiction and the enforceability of English judgments in Europe” and would “reduce the risk of commercial parties switching dispute resolution clauses that would see future disputes heard in Paris, Frankfurt or Amsterdam”.

Issue: 7709 / Categories: Legal News
printer mail-details

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
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
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
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
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
back-to-top-scroll