IP and Dispute Resolution: Cross-Border Complexities

TheCityUK,  an organization promoting the financial services sector in the UK and abroad, partnered with UK Trade and Investment to publish a report in January 2014 which ranked Great Britain as the largest legal market in the world. The report found that legal revenue generated in the UK accounts for 7 percent of the total global share, and more than one fifth of the total revenue share in the European legal market.

In an article appearing in the Law Society Gazette, Faegre Baker Daniels associates Mary Shields and James Wagner explained that the tradition of English law as the standard for international litigation and dispute resolution is a trend that shows no signs of changing, citing that 40 percent of governing law in all global corporate arbitrations is English law. In their article, they urged that despite English law being accepted as the standard bearer of global law, businesses should take care during the drafting stage of dispute resolution clauses to ensure that a forum is agreed upon should an international dispute arise.