On 28 October 2025, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published its updated leniency guidance, incorporating refinements to reflect more than a decade of the agency’s cartel enforcement experience. The updated guidance includes important changes to the existing “queue system” and recalibrates incentives for different types of applicants. The CMA is hoping these changes will increase incentives for companies to self-report antitrust compliance issues. For businesses, the changes add further complexity to the calculus that applies when assessing a potential compliance breach and the options available to minimise adverse consequences, which include the risks of private damages claims as much as fines.
Access to Public Domain Documents: What the UK’s Practice Direction 51ZH Means for Commercial Litigation
The UK’s Practice Direction 51ZH launches a two?year pilot to improve public access to documents used in hearings in certain business courts. Broadly, the practice direction is intended to move from the current ad hoc, application?driven disclosure (often requiring a fee) towards a default of timely provision of public domain documents for free. It does not cut across existing privilege rules or confidentiality protections.
Part 36 Offers and the Importance of Accounting for a Counterclaim
In Matière SAS v. ABM Precast Solutions Ltd,[1] the High Court held that a Part 36 offer made by the claimant represented a genuine offer to settle the claim but effectively offered nothing in respect of the counterclaim. Accordingly, despite having decisively won both the claim and the counterclaim, the claimant was not entitled to the huge costs benefits arising under Part 36 in respect of the costs of the counterclaim.
Tech Contracting: How to Draft and Act to Avoid Disputes
PART 1 Technology. Every business needs it. You either build it yourself or buy it from a third party. As litigators focussed on tech disputes for decades, we’ve seen the same problems with IT outsourcing leading to court appearances again and again. The solutions aren’t groundbreaking – they lie in careful drafting and smart conduct during the contract performance. But in the pressure of finalising …
UK Civil Justice Council Publishes Review of Litigation Funding
The Civil Justice Council (CJC) has published its highly anticipated final report on the regulation and development of litigation funding in England and Wales. This comprehensive report addresses the implications of the UK Supreme Court decision in R (on the application of PACCAR Inc & others) v. Competition Appeals Tribunal & others,[1] examines various funding mechanisms, and proposes legislative reforms to clarify and regulate these funding types.