Month: May 2019

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Market Report: IP Disputes – Strong and stable

Gareth Morgan

Despite Brexit uncertainty with the launch of Europe’s central patent court, Dominic Carman finds plenty for IP litigators to get their teeth into

Case volumes in intellectual property (IP) remain, to borrow a phrase, strong and stable. ‘We’ve not seen much variation in terms of the number of cases in front of the UK Patents Court,’ says Gareth Morgan, IP partner at CMS UK. ‘We monitor claim forms on a monthly basis: typically, there are between 100 and 125 cases issued every year in the Patents Court, of which somewhere between ten and 20 go to trial.’ Continue reading “Market Report: IP Disputes – Strong and stable”

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Prestige meets hustle – Slaughters sends jolt through start-up community with launch of tech incubator

Jane Stewart

For years Slaughters epitomised City conservativism but, reports Thomas Alan, marquee clients and a clear structure mean its new law tech incubator is being closely watched

The value of legal tech incubators is much debated in the industry. The jaded in the tech community often decry such initiatives as marketing opportunities and even many start-ups themselves are sceptical, comparing some law firm incubators to ‘fish bowls’. Continue reading “Prestige meets hustle – Slaughters sends jolt through start-up community with launch of tech incubator”

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Sponsored briefing: UK courts – Open for business

CMS

Caitlin Heard and Gareth Morgan highlight recent cases involving patent disputes to put the case forward for the UK as a key centre for patent litigation

Reflecting on the past 12 months of patent litigation, it is apparent that the tools available to litigants are changing. There is an increasing shift away from the traditional war of attrition that has come to be the norm in multijurisdictional patent disputes, towards more focused and targeted claims, as courts in Europe are increasingly willing to consider international issues and give judgments that have extra-territorial effect. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: UK courts – Open for business”

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Global expansion: Fieldfisher picks Dublin for seventh office launch in a year

Dublin

Fieldfisher continues to build on what managing partner Michael Chissick describes as a strategy to be ‘in every commercial capital in Europe’, having opened in Dublin – its seventh new office since the beginning of 2018.

The mid-market pacesetter merged on 1 May with Irish firm McDowell Purcell to add the 25th office to its global verein. Led by managing partner JP McDowell, the 120-year-old firm counts 16 partners and 50 lawyers. Its regulatory practice is its core strength, while also operating in disputes, employment, planning, restructuring and insolvency. Continue reading “Global expansion: Fieldfisher picks Dublin for seventh office launch in a year”

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Lucrative, dependable business-as-usual

Alex Novarese

The fourth, and largest, Disputes Yearbook returns to find the contentious legal scene much as we left it in 2018. For lawyers offering high-end and upper-midmarket dispute services that remains a good thing, even if there have been busier years post-Lehman. The licence to print money from banking crisis-related work and Russia-inflected conflicts has been revoked for several years now. But the disputes market in the City and across Europe has evolved into far too large and bountiful an ecosystem to be much impacted by such trifles. Arbitration continues to boom, commercial litigation remains solid and robust levels of regulation and enforcement at a global level are producing rich levels of follow-on work.

Continue reading “Lucrative, dependable business-as-usual”

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Sponsored foreword: Period of upheaval set to continue

Clive Zietman

It is fair to say that the volume and nature of commercial disputes generally reflect shifts in the prevailing winds of social, economic and political change. In the ten years since we established commercial litigation at Stewarts, the various forms of upheaval gave rise to a host of high-value, complex litigation and arbitration. This trend of upheaval and dramatic transformation looks set to continue over the next few years.

The financial crisis of a decade ago caught many unaware in terms of its fallout. It was not just another humdrum recession leading to the classic spate of insolvencies and repossessions of the kind we saw in the early 1990s. This was different. Although it gave rise to many claims against professional advisers and other deep-pocketed defendants, many of those who were seen as the cause of the disaster escaped unscathed. They were bailed out or not prosecuted or went unchallenged. Continue reading “Sponsored foreword: Period of upheaval set to continue”

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Sponsored firm profile: Sidley Austin

Sidley Austin

Sidley Austin’s place in the top ten global law firms is well established. Integral to this is a standout international disputes capability, which contributes approximately a third of the firm’s total revenue ($2.2bn in 2018) and engages over 500 lawyers dealing with domestic and international litigation, international arbitration and cross-border investigations.

Sidley’s London office is home to over 140 lawyers, most of whom are English-law qualified. In non-contentious matters, Sidley’s London office acts in the most complex and cutting-edge transactions in private equity, M&A, restructuring, structured finance, capital markets, investment funds and insurance, as well as boasting a market-leading financial services regulatory advisory practice. Additionally, and befitting the firm’s global profile, Sidley’s London dispute resolution group acts for clients in some of the largest business-critical disputes and investigations in the London market. By virtue of the depth and breadth of its experience, and bolstered by recent strategic recruitment, the group is well placed to provide a stellar service to its clients across all disputes practice areas. Continue reading “Sponsored firm profile: Sidley Austin”

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Gender diversity debate: Quantum of equality

Gender diversity debate

Alex Novarese, Legal Business: Tracey, shall we talk about the background of the All Rise project?

Tracey Dovaston, Barclays: We realised we had an opportunity as part of Barclays’ panel process to make some of our expectations on diversity measurable. We set out the expectations of our panel firms, which include that diverse teams work on Barclays matters. We encourage panel firms to recommend diverse teams at the tender stage and that those teams then work on the matter. We want to be introduced to people other than those we have been working with for many years. Continue reading “Gender diversity debate: Quantum of equality”

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Sponsored briefing: The full-frontal approach

Hardwicke

Simon Kerry asks whether front loading case management is effective in resolving cases and looks at the forthcoming Disclosure Pilot

In recent years, reforms of the Civil Procedure Rules have focused on ‘front loading’ case management. In particular, for larger and more complex cases, planning phases have been established to set parameters within which the case will be conducted. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: The full-frontal approach”

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Sponsored briefing: Tech-driven review vs the fear of missing out

Brown Rudnick

Jane Colston discusses the use of AI in the courts under the new disclosure pilot scheme’s push for cheaper tech-assisted review

Lord Burnett of Maldon has set up a new advisory board made up of senior judges and artificial intelligence (AI) experts to consider and advise on the issues arising from the use of AI in the courts. In setting up the group, Lord Burnett seeks to ensure that judges are at the forefront of governing how increasingly capable AI technology may be used in and by the courts of England and Wales. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Tech-driven review vs the fear of missing out”

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Bench strengths – Sizing up the City’s top dispute teams

Damien Byrne Hill

The best dispute lawyers often have something of the diva or rockstar about them – argumentative, uncompromising and brash. Michael Davison, head of Hogan Lovells’ litigation, arbitration and employment group, describes Neal Katyal, who runs the firm’s Washington DC disputes team, as such a figure. It is easy to see why: at the age of 48, Katyal had argued more Supreme Court cases than anyone else in US history and appeared as himself in Netflix’s political drama House of Cards.

London, of course, has no shortage of big characters in litigation, even if the clubby world of hard-living, hard-working boys is giving way to a more diverse crowd. To assess the prospects for the disputes market, Legal Business decided to focus on a dozen of the largest players in the City, spanning traditional leaders, the largest specialist firms and a handful of the most expansive US outfits. Continue reading “Bench strengths – Sizing up the City’s top dispute teams”

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Market Report: White-Collar Crime – Closing the net on corruption

Richard Kovalevsky QC

With deferred prosecution agreements proving a success and the scale of investigations increasing, things have never been busier for corporate crime firms. Anna Cole-Bailey discusses

The consensus among white-collar crime partners is that financial misconduct cases are not going away any time soon. With many investigations historic, they leave deep footprints over time. Continue reading “Market Report: White-Collar Crime – Closing the net on corruption”

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Sponsored firm profile: Ashfords

Ashfords

About our dispute resolution team

Our dispute resolution team is a cadre of specialist litigators. We work with our in-house legal teams to find the most effective route to resolving the disputes that inevitably arise during the course of business. Our aim is to help quantify and manage risk, and offer solutions-driven advice. We actively work with our clients on litigation avoidance strategies. We appreciate how competitive the market place is for you and the challenging decisions that are having to be made as a consequence. We can help in pre-empting issues that might arise from those decisions.

Our philosophy is to place ourselves between our client and the problem, and we never lose sight of the fundamental issue in each case that we take – what outcome does our client need to achieve? – and that directs everything we do and how we do it. Continue reading “Sponsored firm profile: Ashfords”

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Sponsored briefing: Financial litigation in India – An analysis of recent developments in insolvency law

Singh & Associates

Daizy Chawla charts the progress of India’s Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code

‘The Insolvency Code is a legislation which deals with economic matters and, in the larger sense, deals with the economy of the country as a whole.’ Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Financial litigation in India – An analysis of recent developments in insolvency law”

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Sponsored briefing: Technology disputes – A perfect storm of complex technical, legal and business issues

Milbank

Julian Stait and Tom Canning, litigation partners in the London arm of Milbank, look at the complex field of tech disputes

Disputes arising out of complex technology projects continue to arise with alarming frequency; the more complex the project, the more likely it is that problems will arise. And yet, looking back over a large number of years of handling these types of disputes, many of the key causes, issues and themes remain the same, notwithstanding the passage of time. Why is that? Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Technology disputes – A perfect storm of complex technical, legal and business issues”

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Sponsored briefing: The coming of age of arbitration in Africa

MoloLamken

Rémy Gerbay looks at whether Africa could prove a suitable arbitration seat for US corporations

Private investments by US corporations in Africa are expected to increase in the coming years. In turn, cross-border disputes are also expected to surge. This comes at a time when arbitrating disputes on the African continent is slowly becoming an increasingly viable option for US corporations. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: The coming of age of arbitration in Africa”

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Sponsored briefing: The Mauritius International Arbitration Act – A decade on

Benoit Chambers

Rishi Pursem SC and Bilshan Nursimulu discuss how Mauritius has evolved to become an increasingly popular choice for arbitration

On 1 January 2009, the Mauritian International Arbitration Act came into force. It created a completely new regime for international arbitration and expressly provides that it is to be developed in keeping with the international principles underlying the UNCITRAL Model Law. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: The Mauritius International Arbitration Act – A decade on”

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Sponsored briefing: A new ADR instrument for conflicts between beneficiaries and professional fiduciaries

Walch & Schurti

Moritz Blasy, Nicolai Binkert and Simon Ott detail Liechtenstein’s new conciliation procedure

Liechtenstein’s fiduciary and financial services industry has a long history of rendering high-quality services to an international clientele of high-net-worth individuals. For almost 100 years Liechtenstein’s unique legal system has attracted high-net-worth individuals seeking to structure their wealth. The Liechtenstein foundation and the Liechtenstein trust have proven to be particularly popular wealth-structuring vehicles. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: A new ADR instrument for conflicts between beneficiaries and professional fiduciaries”

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Sponsored firm profile: JMiles & Co

JMiles & Co

JMiles & Co specialises in international arbitration, mediation and fraud and asset recovery and is a recipient of the Law Society of England and Wales Excellence Award for international legal services. We have acted for African governments and private clients in Africa and elsewhere across the world. The team consists of lawyers who have qualified and practised in England, Kenya and Singapore and have a deep understanding of the legal and commercial realities of doing business in Africa and is one of the only entities in East Africa providing specialised advice and representation to clients on international arbitration.

Continue reading “Sponsored firm profile: JMiles & Co”