2020 will be, for many of us, a year we are keen to forget, as we look forward to 2021 with hope that the Covid-19 vaccines will bring life back to something approaching normality – though perhaps with some trepidation at the uncertainties for business following on from the end of the Brexit implementation period, … Read more

On 11 December 2020 the Supreme Court handed down a very significant judgment relating to the certification of a £14bn opt-out competition collective action brought by Walter Merricks against Mastercard, in respect of losses alleged to have resulted from the use of anti-competitive multilateral interchange fees. Our competition litigation team published an initial blog post last week, … Read more

With the end of the Brexit transition period rapidly approaching, we are still waiting to see whether the UK and the EU can reach an agreement on their future relationship from 1 January 2021. In fact, whether or not an agreement is reached has no direct impact on commercial dispute resolution. But the hope is … Read more

Proposals for a new Practice Direction and Appendix governing the preparation of witness statements for trials in the Business and Property Courts, which were recently approved by the Business and Property Courts Board, have now been approved in principle by the Civil Procedure Rule Committee. There are some final points of drafting still being considered, … Read more

Earlier today the Supreme Court handed down its hotly-anticipated judgment regarding the certification of an opt-out competition collective action brought by Walter Merricks against Mastercard. The claim is seeking £14bn in damages on behalf of some 46.2 million UK consumers, in respect of losses alleged to have resulted from the use of anti-competitive multilateral interchanges … Read more

Parties to commercial contracts may wish to exit their contractual arrangements for all sorts of reasons. In many cases, they will have included in their contract a right to terminate in particular circumstances, and a process for doing so. Even where there is no express right to terminate, parties may be entitled to terminate under … Read more

Although a decade has passed since the introduction of class actions in Italy, only a handful of actions have been brought before the Italian courts and even fewer have been successful. There has been much debate as well regarding the very low amount of damages ultimately awarded by the courts to consumers. A drastic change … Read more

Our annual disputes client conference exploring key legal and compliance risks facing major corporates was held as an online event on 1 and 2 December. After opening remarks by Damien Byrne Hill, managing partner for dispute resolution, there were presentations on the Covid-19 pandemic and its legacy, the growing risk of UK class actions, responding … Read more