who uses the commercial court?
DESCRIPTION
The Portland Disputes practice study, Who Uses the Commercial Court?, found that foreign litigants dominate the Commercial Court while British litigants’ use is decreasing.TRANSCRIPT
Who usesthe Commercial
Court?
The Portland Disputes practice study, Who Uses the Commercial Court?, found that foreign litigants dominate the Commercial Court while British litigants’ use is decreasing. Portland undertook this research to inform the debate about the influx of foreign cases to the British courts, which was sparked by the blockbuster Berezovsky v Abramovich trial. The study reviewed all 705 judgements from the England and Wales Commercial Court between March 2008 and March 2013 and, for the first time, recorded the nationality of the parties involved.
About Portland
The Portland Disputes practice specialises in managing high-stakes and sensitive issues for individuals, corporations and institutions involved in a legal dispute.
The Portland team is drawn from the worlds of politics, media and business. Our professionals have led communications in military conflicts, political campaigns, high-profile legal battles and transactions.
Ourfindings
0 %
20 %
40 %
60 %
80 %
100 %
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
UK
Foreign
Over the period of five years, 35% of all parties were British while the rest were foreign.
The number of foreign litigants grew by 30 percentage points while British nationals decreased by 11 percentage points.
Ourfindings
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
UK
Europe
N America
MENA
Africa
E asia
Caribbean
Eurasia
SE Asia
S America
Brit Cr Dep
C America
Ind. Sub
Australasia
S Pacific Islands
Litigants by region
Africa BeninChadDRCGabonIvory CoastKenyaLiberiaMauritiusMozambiqueNigeriaSenegalSeychellesSierra LeoneSouth AfricaTanzaniaZambia
AustralasiaAustraliaNew Zealand
British Crown DependencyGuernseyIsle of ManJersey
CaribbeanBVIArubaBahamasBarbadosBermudaCayman IslandsNetherlands AntillesSt Vincent & GrenadinesTurks & Caicos Islands
Central AmericaPanama
East Asia ChinaHong KongJapanMongoliaSouth KoreaTaiwan
EurasiaArmeniaGeorgiaKazakhstanRussia
EuropeAustriaBelgiumBulgariaCroatiaCyprusCzech Republic
DenmarkFinlandFranceGermanyGibraltarGreeceHungaryIcelandIrelandItalyLatviaLiechtensteinLithuaniaLuxembourgMaltaMonacoNorwayPolandPortugalRomaniaSan Marino
SerbiaSlovakiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandNetherlandsTurkeyUkraine
Indian subcontinentIndiaNepalPakistanSri Lanka
MENABahrainEgyptIranIraqIsrael
JordanKuwaitLebanonLibyaPalestineQatarSaudi ArabiaSyriaTunisiaUAE
North AmericaCanadaMexicoUnited States
South AmericaArgentinaBelizeBoliviaBrazil
ChileUruguayVenezuela
South Pacific IslandsMarshall IslandsSamoa
Southeast AsiaIndonesiaMalaysiaPhilippinesSingaporeThailandVietnam
UKUnited Kingdom
The number of
European litigants
in the Commercial
Court increased by
165% since 2008.
While Eurasian
litigants comprised
the next biggest
group, Russian
and Kazakh
parties together
constituted about
6% of foreign
litigants, a share
that has decreased
since 2011.
United Kingdom
United S
tatesB
ritishVirgin
Islands
KazakhstanKazakhstan
Swit
zerl
and
Rus
sia
(35%)
(6%
)
(3%)
(3%)
(3%
)(3
%)
Map of litigants
1. UK 880
2. US 146
3. Kazakhstan 86
4. Switzerland 86
5. BVI 83
6. Russia 75
7. Germany 70
8. Italy 48
9. Greece 45
10. Luxembourg 42
11. India 38
12. Netherlands 37
13. France 32
14. Brazil 29
15. China 29
16. Norway 27
17. Nigeria 26
18. Singapore 26
19. UAE 26
20. Cyprus 23
Top 20 litigants
Portland reviewed 705 judgements handed down by the Commercial Court of England and Wales between March 2008 and March 2013.
The judgements are the source of the data, augmented by research to identify the nationalities of the parties. This is because judgements are consistently
recorded and reflect a legal action that has gone past the early stages. When reviewed over years, this provides a substantive measure of the nationalities in the court system and the legal teams acting for them.
Students from the School of Law at the University of Westminster provided research support.
Methodology
• Nationalities were recorded based on the frequency of involvement in judgments.
• The solicitors and barristers were recorded as named in the judgements.
• Rankings are based on the number of judgements in which they were named.
• Law firms that merged during the period 2008-2013 are treated as they were named rather than being combined for total numbers.
2012WinnerEMEA Public Affairs Consultancy of the Year
London1 Red Lion CourtLondonEC4A 3EB
Nairobi4th Floor, Laiboni CentreLenana RoadKilimani, Kenya
New YorkThe Chrysler Building405 Lexington Avenue26th FloorNew York, NY 10174
t: +44 (0) 20 7842 0123f: +44 (0) 20 7842 0145
Twitter: @PortlandComms