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The Supreme Court's decision in Stoffel & Co v Grondona [2020] UKSC 42 affirms and applies the "trio of conditions" test for the defence of illegality, established by the Supreme Court in Patel v Mirza [2016] UKSC 42.
Allegations of dishonesty in English civil litigation – whether against individuals or corporate bodies – are not to be made lightly, and care must be taken over how they are pleaded. This is reflected in paragraph 8.2 of Practice Direction 16, which provides that a claimant must "specifically set out…any allegation of fraud" in the Particulars of Claim.
In this recent decision of Waksman J in the High Court, Barclays were held to have waived privilege in all contemporaneous communications with their lawyers regarding the validity of certain agreements which were the subject of the proceedings.
International businesses like English law and feel comfortable using London as a venue to resolve their disputes, particularly those with significant monetary, reputation or precedent value. Brexit will not affect the benefits of using English law or, in the round, the attraction of an English forum, be that the English courts or a London-seated arbitral tribunal.
The transition towards a digitalised legal system has long been on HMCTS' cards, however it is only now that real strides have been taken to achieve this. In light of the Covid-19 outbreak, all hearings (insofar as possible) are taking place remotely, i.e. via a video calling platform.
The case of ACL Netherlands B.V. (as successor to Autonomy Corporation Limited) and others v Dr Michael Lynch and Sushovan Hussain, in which this firm acted for the Claimants (referred to here as "HPE" for ease), has attracted much media attention. The trial took place over 10 months before Mr Justice Hildyard in the period March 2019 to January 2020.
Worldwide, countless races have been postponed pending COVID-19 – so too it seems has the race to the courthouse…