United Kingdom: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration

The English High Court has ruled that legal advice privilege can extend to internal communications between members of a client group within an organisation, provided these communications are prepared for the dominant purpose of seeking legal advice.

As generative AI tools become ubiquitous in the workplace, employers face a critical but often overlooked challenge: preserving AI-generated documents during litigation. This article examines how the duty to preserve evidence extends to GenAI prompts, outputs, and chat histories, and why failing to capture this data could expose organizations to serious legal consequences.

English courts have reaffirmed that witness coaching is prohibited regardless of method, including through AI chatbots. A recent criminal case examined whether AI-generated documents that rehearsed cross-examination answers constituted impermissible coaching, ultimately finding that while such use violates established principles, procedural safeguards may prevent proceedings from being stayed. The decision raises critical questions about how AI tools intersect with longstanding rules protecting witness test

The High Court's decision in Herod Property Ltd v Westminster City Council serves as a stark warning to developers who self-assess Community Infrastructure Levy liability as zero without securing prior agreement...

Claims can contain alternatives, e.g. “…wherein the communication link is a wired link or a wireless link…”. T 1186/24, a recent decision from the European Patent Office’s Boards of Appeal, reminds us that the requirements of the European Patent Convention must be met by all alternatives within a claim.

When can a contractor prevent a beneficiary from calling on an On Demand Bond? Recent case law has struggled to reconcile two competing legal principles: the traditional fraud exception and contractual restrictions on making calls. A 2026 judgment clarifies the threshold required to obtain an injunction against bond calls.

When debtors vanish across borders but retain property in Scotland, creditors face a jurisdictional puzzle that many assume ends their recovery efforts. However, Scottish courts offer a powerful yet frequently overlooked route: jurisdiction based on immovable property ownership under the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982, enabling legal action even when traditional service methods fail.

A Scottish court examines whether a performance bond demand met contractual requirements when the beneficiary's written claim contained general breach descriptions, exceeded the bond's maximum amount, and was signed by someone with an unconventional title. The case explores how courts apply the "reasonable recipient" test to determine if technical imperfections in demand notices should invalidate otherwise clear claims.

Claims can contain alternatives, e.g. “…wherein the communication link is a wired link or a wireless link…”. T 1186/24, a recent decision from the European Patent Office’s Boards of Appeal, reminds us that the requirements of the European Patent Convention must be met by all alternatives within a claim.

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...

The English Court of Appeal has ruled that a state's ratification of the New York Convention does not constitute a waiver of sovereign immunity in enforcement proceedings. Does this decision create obstacles for investors seeking to enforce arbitral awards against states, and what strategies should parties employ when contracting with state entities?