United Kingdom: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration

HMRC has introduced anti-avoidance information notices (AAINs) under Part 6 of the Finance Act 2026, granting significantly broader powers to investigate tax avoidance promotion and facilitation. These notices can target a wide network of connected persons—including directors, advisers, and intermediaries—without requiring proof that tax was lost or that arrangements were ineffective. With substantial civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance, businesses and advisers must understand who ca

HMRC's new anti-avoidance information notice regime grants broad investigative powers to gather information from persons suspected of connection to tax avoidance arrangements. The guidance reveals an expansive "connected person" test that may extend beyond promoters and taxpayers to include advisers, accountants, insurers and other professional service providers involved in making arrangements available, organizing them, or deriving benefits from them.

The High Court has ruled that the Solicitors Regulation Authority cannot compel law firms to produce documents protected by legal professional privilege during regulatory investigations without client consent. This landmark decision challenges the SRA's longstanding enforcement strategy and raises critical questions about how effectively the regulator can investigate misconduct complaints, particularly from third parties, when clients refuse to waive privilege.

The collapse of Woodville Consultants Ltd has exposed significant vulnerabilities in the rapidly expanding litigation funding market, which operates largely outside mainstream financial regulation. With nearly £300 million owed to retail investors and questionable lending practices to law firms, the case raises critical questions about investor protection, regulatory oversight, and the future balance of power in funded litigation.

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Artificial intelligence is reshaping how commercial disputes are conducted, how much they cost, and how fast they develop. If you run a small and medium-sized enterprise, this is no longer a matter to leave solely with your lawyers when disputes land on your desk. Dispute resolution must become part of your core business strategy – starting now.

Two UK arms dealers, David Greenhalgh and Christos Farmakis, received 16-year prison sentences for illegally supplying prohibited military equipment to sanctioned destinations including Libya, Sudan, and South Sudan. The UK judiciary published detailed sentencing remarks outlining the court's reasoning, aggravating factors, and the unprecedented nature of these export control violations spanning seven years.

The Court of Appeal has clarified the jurisdictional limits of freezing orders in cross-border enforcement, examining whether English courts can grant worldwide freezing orders against foreign respondents when seeking to enforce domestic judgments. This ruling distinguishes between the procedural gateways available for domestic versus foreign judgment enforcement and underscores that jurisdictional requirements cannot be overcome by the strength of the underlying claim alone.

Parents are increasingly using AI to draft complaints and legal correspondence against schools, but courts are growing concerned about AI-generated legal materials that contain inaccurate information, fabricated case references, and excessive text that obscures real issues. School leaders need to recognize the warning signs of potential legal claims hidden within AI-generated complaints and understand when to seek early legal advice.

Eversheds Sutherland provides comprehensive legal services through a global network of separate and distinct legal entities. The firm's website offers access to legal professionals, insights on international arbitration, workplace technology deployment, and sovereign immunity cases, while maintaining clear disclaimers about the general information nature of its materials.

The UK Supreme Court's narrow 3-2 decision in The Kingdom of Bahrain v Shehabi denies state immunity to foreign governments accused of remotely hacking individuals within UK territory, establishing that cyber surveillance operations causing harm to UK residents fall outside traditional immunity protections. This landmark ruling clarifies the territorial tort exception under the State Immunity Act 1978 and may expose foreign states to liability for state-sponsored cyberattacks targeting UK-based individuals

The UK Supreme Court has ruled on whether sovereign states can invoke immunity to resist enforcement of adverse ICSID arbitration awards in English courts. Spain and Zimbabwe challenged the registration...