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Russian litigation in London (Pt 1)

22 March 2019 / Simon Davenport KC , Helen Pugh
Issue: 7833 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Simon Davenport QC & Helen Pugh examine the reasons behind the buoyancy of Russian/CIS litigation in London

  • Many recent commercial litigation cases with one or more Russian/CIS parties share a number of common features.
  • The calibre of the Commercial Court judges and the certainty of English law—as well as the courts’ impressive asset recovery weaponry—make London an attractive choice for contracting parties.
  • The popularity of London and its suburbs among expats and exiles makes London a possible jurisdiction in other cases.

With episodes as high-profile as the Skripal poisoning, Roman Abramovich’s visa problems, and even Maria Sharapova’s doping scandal, the Russian influence in Britain in areas as diverse as espionage and sport is headline news in technicolour. Commercial litigation involving Russian and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) institutions, companies and people has the same high tempo, high stakes characteristics.

According to the report UK legal services 2018 by TheCityUK, in 2017 almost 1,200 claims were issued in the Admiralty and Commercial Court, now part of the Business

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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
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
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
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
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