header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us

Group actions: Time to join forces?

© Copyright LexisNexis 2025. All Rights Reserved.
13 May 2022 / David Niven , Nicole Blakey
Issue: 7978 / Categories: Features , Profession , Collective action
printer mail-detail
81443
In the first of a special three-part series by Penningtons Manches Cooper, David Niven & Nicole Blakey sketch out the changing landscape of group actions & litigation funding in the UK
  • Increase in professional negligence and group actions in the High Court.
  • Conditional fee agreements and after-the-event insurance funding for group actions.
  • Emergence of third-party litigation funding for group actions.

Solomonic’s review of High Court litigation in 2021 revealed a substantial rise in professional negligence disputes, up 289% on 2020 with an increase in actions brought against solicitors and barristers. Group actions filed in the High Court increased by 27% from 2020 to 2021: this upward trend will likely continue.

These statistics are reflective of our own experience. We have seen a rise in professional negligence claims against solicitors and barristers brought by groups of claimants, predominately in relation to failed property investment schemes. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has taken disciplinary action over recent years against law firms involved in these schemes, so we may

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

Read All
Sponsored by
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan—Andrew Savage

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan—Andrew Savage

Firm expands London disputes practice with senior partner hire

Druces—Lisa Cardy

Druces—Lisa Cardy

Senior associate promotion strengthens real estate offering

Charles Russell Speechlys—Robert Lundie Smith

Charles Russell Speechlys—Robert Lundie Smith

Leading patent litigator joins intellectual property team

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Law Society calls for clarity on AML
The government’s plan to introduce a Single Professional Services Supervisor could erode vital legal-sector expertise, warns Mark Evans, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, in NLJ this week
NLJ this week: Turning corporate liability into opportunity
Writing in NLJ this week, Jonathan Fisher KC of Red Lion Chambers argues that the ‘failure to prevent’ model of corporate criminal responsibility—covering bribery, tax evasion, and fraud—should be embraced, not resisted
NLJ this week: A prince no more?
Professor Graham Zellick KC argues in NLJ this week that, despite Buckingham Palace’s statement stripping Andrew Mountbatten Windsor of his styles, titles and honours, he remains legally a duke
NLJ this week: Shareholder secrecy sunk
Writing in NLJ this week, Sophie Ashcroft and Miranda Joseph of Stevens & Bolton dissect the Privy Council’s landmark ruling in Jardine Strategic Ltd v Oasis Investments II Master Fund Ltd (No 2), which abolishes the long-standing 'shareholder rule'
NLJ this week: The expanding remit of national security law
In NLJ this week, Sailesh Mehta and Theo Burges of Red Lion Chambers examine the government’s first-ever 'Afghan leak' super-injunction—used to block reporting of data exposing Afghans who aided UK forces and over 100 British officials. Unlike celebrity privacy cases, this injunction centred on national security. Its use, the authors argue, signals the rise of a vast new body of national security law spanning civil, criminal, and media domains
Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll