Pugh: London has cemented its reputation
Russian litigants have returned to London’s Commercial Court, more than doubling in number in a year and reaching their highest total since 2018.
However, a “surge” in litigants from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with numbers up by over 50%, made it the top non-UK nationality at the Commercial Court, ahead of the USA.
Communications company Portland said there were 60 Russian litigants in 2024-25, mainly defendants, reflecting “the largely reactive nature of Russian litigation in London, often tied to enforcement proceedings, asset protection, or disputes triggered by sanctions and complex cross-border dynamics”.
But the number of Russian litigants using the Commercial Courts “could well be higher when considering that Russian-owned businesses remain involved in the courts. Their owners could simply have moved their headquarters to a new jurisdiction outside of Russia”
In 2025, 80% of Russian litigants had legal representation, up from just 30% in 2024, and significantly higher than in 2023 as sanctions bit hard.
Portland’s Commercial Courts Report 2025 found that the UAE was the top non-UK nationality for litigants, with 68, followed by the US with 66, Russia with 60 and Cyprus with 52.
It said last year “marked an inflection point for Emirati use of London’s Commercial Courts”, which had grown from 32 litigants in 2023.
“This surge reflects a deepening preference among Emirati individuals and institutions for English law and the reputation of the London courts as an internationally recognised forum, particularly in resolving complex, high-value disputes.”
Researchers described 2025 as “a record year for nationalities, with 93 represented – the highest ever recorded”.
Although the percentage of international litigants overall showed a slight decrease of three percentage points to 62%, the decrease was “not consistent” across all regions.
“For example, there was a significant decrease in the number of EU 27 litigants, likely driven by a reduction in judgments in the Russian aircraft claims, which involved Irish litigants. Meanwhile, the proportion of litigants from the ‘rest of the world’ has increased to 45.5%, an all-time high.”
In an online survey of over 1,000 UK adults carried out last month, Portland found that they were more comfortable with artificial intelligence (AI) being used for administrative support, legal research and analysis and document review than for drafting judgments and decision making.
More than half of adults were concerned about AI’s accountability for errors. This concern was followed by risks to data security and privacy, and bias in AI models.
Three out of 10 people were concerned that AI would reduce opportunity for skills development, followed by concerns over lack of transparency, AI hallucinations and copyright.
Researchers asked adults, for the first time, if they worked in the legal profession when questioning them about what role they thought AI should play in the legal industry over the next five to 10 years.
Lawyers were generally much more positive about the use of AI, with the biggest gaps in approach over its use in judgments.
More than three in 10 lawyers thought AI should be used in drafting judgments, more than double the percentage of non-legal adults, and the gap was almost as big when it came to predicting judgments in a case.
While just 13% of the general public thought AI should be used for ‘decision-making support or judgment recommendations in the future’, the figure for lawyers was 31%.
“This suggests that legal professionals may be more confident in the potential for AI to take on more complex functions and are already considering broader and more ambitious applications for AI in the years ahead.”
Adrian Lifely, a senior adviser to Portland’s litigation and disputes practice, said the “sharp return” in the number of Russian litigants, mainly as defendants, were likely to represent “a ‘sweep up’ of historical cases” in a moment of transition.
“I would expect the number is boosted by the reignition of cases that had been delayed or disrupted by sanctions.”
Simon Pugh head of Portland’s litigation and disputes practice, added: “The international pull of the London Commercial Courts confirms that, amidst global uncertainty in the rule of law, London has cemented its reputation as a trusted centre for commercial dispute resolution.”
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