What impact will the Jackson reforms have on international litigants’ views of the English court system, asks Nicholas Heaton
The English court system is undergoing a real upheaval at the moment as a result of the Jackson reforms. Most litigants who will feel the impact of those changes have no real choice as to the court system that will determine their disputes. However, others do have a choice, both English litigants who can look to other jurisdictions to resolve their disputes and foreign litigants, who currently turn to the English courts in significant numbers.
View from abroad
The English court system is rightly held out as one of the “best in the world”, with its high-calibre judiciary and lawyers and its general sense of fair play. English justice is in itself a major export. According to a 2013 study, the English Commercial Court remains the court of choice for foreign litigants, having heard more than 1,600 cases brought by parties from abroad in the last five years. This is nearly twice the number brought by UK-based litigators over the same period
