Legal Business

Jackson – Light at the end of the tunnel?

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 MARKET VIEW – LITIGATION 

Enyo Law’s Peter Fitzpatrick, Annabel Thomas and Lauren Gash analyse how the Jackson reforms are bedding down a year after they came into force

Over a year has passed since the Jackson reforms came into force in April 2013 under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act. Like the Woolf reforms before them, the aim of the reforms was to cut the cost of civil litigation and streamline cases, reducing the use of court time and encouraging early settlement.

Legal Business

Funding the fights

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With litigation funders having established their own industry regulator and starting to move into arbitration cases, there are more reasons to believe that third-party funding is here in a big way

Leslie Perrin, chairman of litigation funder Calunius Capital, remembers the atmosphere in New York during the autumn of 2008 when he was attempting to raise money for Calunius’s inaugural litigation fund. Tumbleweed was rolling down Wall Street and Citigroup’s share price was plunging by the second. It was an inauspicious time for raising capital.

Legal Business

No let up for Libor claims as FSA issues record fines

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With the Financial Services Authority (FSA) issuing a record £300m of total fines in the UK in 2012, up from £65.5m in 2011, litigation teams in the City are predicting a further surge in banking litigation in 2013 thanks to the Libor scandal.

Barclays’ fine of £59.9m in June was dwarfed by UBS’ £160m fine in December. Clifford Chance and Sullivan & Cromwell were brought in to advise Barclays, while Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher advised UBS in both the US and the UK.

Legal Business

Free at Last – Enyo Law

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Three litigation partners left Addleshaw Goddard last year to set up a conflicts-free, disputes-only boutique. LB finds out how well the model is working.

For many, it’s a depressingly familiar scenario. You’re an experienced litigation partner handling financial services and contentious civil fraud disputes, advising corporates, entrepreneurs and high-net-worth individuals. A senior in-house lawyer from a bank asks you to represent them against another major financial institution after being given your name by a partner from a rival firm. A conflict check then reveals a banking partner at your firm had dinner with the other side and anticipates some corporate work in the pipeline. You have no choice but to decline the instruction.