Costs law specialist Michael Kain explains how the UK has quietly become a global litigation powerhouse.

During this century, UK litigation has been transformed. Arguably the most important factor is globalisation: rapid economic expansion and unprecedented market integration were swiftly followed by digital transition.

Fuelled by exponential growth in global value chains, cross-border trade and capital flows surged. After the global financial crisis, they transitioned from physical goods toward digital and service-based networks.

Proliferation of cross-border disputes

Against this background, cross-border disputes have proliferated with London emerging as the principal beneficiary, consolidating its position as the world’s largest and most preferred centre for international dispute resolution.

Simultaneously, English legal expertise has assumed an even more prominent role in multiple jurisdictions across the world. English law is the governing law of choice in trillions of pounds of global contracts – a key factor in explaining why English courts deliver a larger volume of written commercial judgments with an international dimension than any other jurisdiction.

As these trends took shape, London-based litigation evolved from a traditional hourly-billed legal service into a multi-billion-pound, investor-backed sector. The market tracked that evolution, seamlessly shifting from a primarily domestic industry into a sophisticated global business.

Surging value and complexity

Although the aggregate volume of commercial disputes in London has now plateaued, the value and complexity of claims have continued to surge - notably in mass opt-out class actions. Most recently, the volume of Commercial Court claims jumped in Q1 2026, pushing filings to their second highest-ever level in an opening quarter, according to Solomonic.

Currently, a wide range of specialists help to meet the diverse needs of London-based dispute proceedings: law firms, barristers, litigation funders, insurers, expert witnesses and costs professionals each play their part in high-value disputes which invariably span multiple jurisdictions.

Beyond the big macro trends which have served to transform the sector, the role played by these specialists in shaping the modern litigation landscape has been pivotal at a micro level.

Leading the charge

Leading the charge, UK law firms have built substantial international claimant practices, pursuing some of the world's largest environmental, product liability, human rights and corporate misconduct claims. Since the global financial crisis, in particular, a wide range of preeminent US law firms have continued to develop and expand their London disputes footprint, providing very strong competition that matches, and sometimes surpasses, their English counterparts.

Over the past decade, in particular, another phenomenon has added a further layer of expertise to the London disputes ecosystem: the significant rise in the number and size of specialist litigation boutiques. Their tremendous success has further strengthened the UK's global disputes market, proving that sophisticated, high-value litigation can thrive outside the traditional big law firm model.

UK law firms have built substantial international claimant practices, pursuing some of the world's largest environmental, product liability, human rights and corporate misconduct claims.

The dramatic increase of third-party litigation funding has also facilitated the development of complex, high-value disputes in London. Often referred to as conditional fee agreements (CFAs), contingency funding had been in place for nearly 30 years. But it was The Civil Litigation Costs Review 2010, led by Lord Justice Jackson, that was the key catalyst for significant growth in the UK litigation funding market.

Today, claims in excess of £2 billion are backed by litigation funders each year. This is further supplemented by after the event (ATE) insurance; specialised legal expenses policies are made available by insurers to provide cover for adverse costs in legal disputes. These policies shield claimants from the cost of an opponent's legal fees and disbursements in the event that a claim is lost.

English legal expertise in demand

At an international level, English legal expertise is increasingly in demand. A cluster of offshore law firms and specialist advisers have significantly expanded their footprint into international centres such as Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as across the largest of the traditional offshore centres in the Caribbean (Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, and Bermuda) and the Channel Islands (Jersey and Guernsey). 

Smaller jurisdictions, such as Gibraltar and the Isle of Man, have also become integral to the UK's international disputes ecosystem, particularly for insolvency, trusts and commercial litigation.

English commercial barristers find themselves in much demand offshore. Disputes in bigger cases throughout the major offshore jurisdictions often feature a cluster of London-based silks on both sides: they routinely receive rights of audience from local courts on the basis of their specialist expertise.

Equally, a number of the judges trying these cases in local appellate courts and at a Supreme Court level have a background as an English law practitioner.

Costs becoming strategic

Of course, the issue of costs remains a significant feature in the overwhelming majority of large cross-border disputes, both offshore and onshore. The increasing scope, scale and complexity of international litigation has elevated costs management from a technical discipline to a strategic component of these disputes.

At a time of sustained global uncertainty, the stability and reliability of English law, underpinned by judges of the highest quality trying big ticket legal disputes in London, look set to provide international litigants with certainty for many years to come.

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