United Kingdom: Court Procedure

When a Moscow arbitration threatened to drain assets protected by an English court undertaking, the High Court ordered disclosure of confidential arbitration materials. This November 2025 decision examines when arbitral confidentiality must yield to asset protection, and what it means for parties navigating parallel proceedings across jurisdictions.

BCL Solicitors' partners have earned recognition as leading lawyers in criminal investigations, while the firm's experts analyze high-profile cases and systemic reforms shaping the UK criminal justice system.

Care proceedings can be overwhelming for parents facing Local Authority concerns about their children. Understanding parenting assessments and courses—what they involve, why they matter, and how they influence court decisions—can help parents engage positively with the process and demonstrate their capacity to meet their child's needs within required timescales.

As the summer holidays approach, many separated parents begin making plans for family holidays. Whilst these arrangements are often agreed without difficulty, disputes can arise when one parent wishes to take a child...

The Unified Patent Court (UPC) introduces a complex costs regime that significantly impacts both patent holders pursuing enforcement and defendants facing infringement claims. Understanding these financial implications is crucial for strategic decision-making, as the costs can substantially affect the overall risk-reward calculation beyond the substantive merits of patent disputes.

The UK High Court has approved a groundbreaking dynamic blocking mechanism that allows pharmaceutical companies to block websites selling counterfeit medicines without requiring repeated court applications. This novel approach enables rights holders to self-certify breaches and directly instruct Internet Service Providers to block qualifying websites, marking a significant evolution in combating online pharmaceutical counterfeiting. The decision extends website blocking orders beyond traditional copyright e

A young college student faced a police investigation for alleged sexual assault without knowing why he was being contacted. Through careful preparation, strategic legal representation...

The UK Supreme Court's decision in Evans v Barclays Bank clarifies critical distinctions between opt-in and opt-out collective proceedings, establishing that claim strength is a relevant factor in certification decisions and that opt-in should be the starting point. The judgment addresses the weight to be given to regulatory decisions, the balance between access to justice and defendants' rights, and the practical considerations that should guide the Competition Appeal Tribunal's certification process.

The High Court has provided important guidance on when courts should restrict public access to documents filed in civil proceedings, particularly where there are parallel criminal prosecutions. In Various Claimants v Entain Plc, the court considered for the first time the circumstances in which a "filing modification order" should be made under the Access to Public Domain Documents pilot scheme, balancing the principle of open justice against the need to protect the fairness of ongoing criminal proceedings.