Litigation/Dispute Resolution

The international body for third-party funders has told UNCITRAL that restricting the funding of treaty-based investor-state arbitrations would weaken the rule of law.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal yesterday granted the first ever collective proceedings order, allowing the £14bn Mastercard opt-out class action to go forward at last.

The Master of the Rolls, Sir Geoffrey Vos, has approved the new guideline hourly rates while ordering a further review that will take into account changing working practices.

A judge who had “no information at all” as to how the defence of a dormant law firm was being funded was right not to ignore the issue, appeal judges have ruled.

Expert witnesses prefer to travel to prepare themselves for a trial in person with their legal teams even when the trial itself is to be conducted remotely, a report has found.

A law firm and a litigation funder were entitled to end their retainers with a couple suing their former solicitors and should have their costs of £75,000, the High Court has ruled.

The High Court has rejected a claim by Manchester City football club that there was apparent bias on the part of three QCs sitting on a Premier League arbitration panel.

Judges’ patience with parties that fail to prepare electronic bundles with consistent page numbering is over and they can expect sanctions, the High Court has warned.

An online dispute resolution platform would help solve the problem of late payment debt by providing SMEs with a quick and cheap alternative to traditional lawyer-based solutions.

The Bar Council recently met with the senior judiciary in a bid to ensure there are proper consequences for judges who bully barristers. It dismissed any notion young lawyers were being ‘snowflakes’.

The Court of Appeal has rejected as “too binary” the approach taken by a High Court judge when striking out a negligence claim against lawyers over their former client’s capacity to litigate.

More “innovative technologies” and an “integrated online dispute resolution process” have been promised by the Ministry of Justice in a fresh bid to reduce the amount of litigation.

The question of whether listed law firm Rosenblatt has authority to act for 27,380 claimants and 479 communities taking action against Shell “must be grappled with”, the High Court judge ruled.

The Civil Justice Council working group charged with reviewing the guideline hourly rates has doubled down on its interim recommendations following consultation.

Flexible operating hours can make it easier for people to access civil and family justice, but there needs to a lot more work to bring solicitors and barristers on board, research has said.