Russians were the most common foreign nationality out of 78 different nationalities represented in the courts. According to the Commercial Courts Report 2023, published last week by Portland Communications, the increase was driven largely by Russian business executives and some sanctioned entities such as PJSC Bank Otkritie Financial Corporation.
Conversely, the number of Ukrainian litigants dropped to zero, compared to 25 appearances between April 2020 and March 2021, when Ukraine vs Russia was the second most common nationality pairing in judgments.
The US, India and Singapore fielded the next highest number of litigants. In a foreword to the report, former president of the Supreme Court Lord Neuberger wrote that he was ‘surprised by the increase in Singaporean and Indian litigants: it appears to be a particular compliment to London, given the keenness of the Singaporean courts and arbitration institutions to attract southern Asian international dispute resolution to Singapore.’
Only 40% of the 1,120 litigants appearing were from the UK—less than in previous years.
Portland’s polling for the report also found high levels of support for climate change litigation in the UK, with nearly 90% agreeing that parent companies should be held accountable for damage caused by a subsidiary. Some 81% of respondents agreed the UK courts should be prepared to intervene to force private companies to meet more ambitious climate change targets.
Philip Hall, managing director at Portland, said: ‘Litigation, commercial strategy and reputation can no longer be separated.
‘Today, every entity involved in litigation must consider how the audiences that matter to them will react. The recent world-wide wave of climate change litigation is popular among the British public. Portland’s in-house polling shows overwhelming support for climate change and greenwashing lawsuits, with far-reaching implications for companies and organisations’ reputation.’
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