Disclosure

Anatomy of a Commercial Dispute

from Commercial Disputes

Before proceedings are issued, parties are expected to comply with the relevant Pre-Action Protocol, which encourages early exchange of information and attempts at settlement. Once proceedings begin, the key stages include filing of statements of case (particulars of claim and defence), disclosure (each party revealing relevant documents to the other), exchange of witness statements and expert reports, and finally trial. The Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) govern the process and emphasise proportionality, case management, and active judicial involvement. Most commercial disputes settle before trial — often at a mediation — but the litigation process shapes the negotiating dynamics throughout.

Recent Trends

from Commercial Disputes

Litigation funding — where a third party finances a claimant's legal costs in exchange for a share of any recovery — has transformed access to justice for complex commercial claims, though the Supreme Court's decision in PACCAR (2023) temporarily disrupted the market by classifying certain funding agreements as damages-based agreements. Group litigation and collective proceedings (particularly under the Competition Act 1998) are growing in scale and frequency. The rise of remote and hybrid hearings, accelerated by the pandemic, has permanently changed court procedure. Disclosure reform — particularly the mandatory use of the Disclosure Pilot Scheme in the Business and Property Courts — aims to reduce the cost and burden of the traditionally most expensive stage of litigation.