International Business Chooses England and Wales as their Jurisdiction of Choice for Dispute Resolution

Today (5 October) the Government, City and the Law Society have joined forces to promote England and Wales as the jurisdiction of choice.  

The Law Society is fronting a campaign to promote England and Wales as the jurisdiction of choice for international companies to resolve their commercial disputes.  As part of the campaign a brochure has been launched today aimed at an international in-house counsel.  In the foreword Jack Straw, Secretary of State for Justice and the Lord Chancellor, says the Law Society "is right to trumpet the success of England and Wales as the jurisdiction of choice for the resolution of disputes arising all over the world". 26 City law firms contributed to the booklet and it has been sponsored in particular by Eversheds, Herbert Smith and Norton Rose.

Andrew Holroyd, Law Society President, says: “The Law Society hopes this exciting partnership between government and the legal sector is only the first of many.  London is home to a large body of world class, international law firms that offer multi-disciplinary and multi-jurisdictional legal advice to international businesses. With statistics that show that two thirds of cases litigated in the Commercial court involve one or more international parties, it makes sense for us to be proud of and promote all the positive aspects that the jurisdiction of England and Wales has to offer."

The launch will take place at Lancaster House on Friday 5 October at 7pm to an international audience.  It will be the closing reception of the ABA Section of International Law Fall meeting in London, which has attracted over 1000 American lawyers.

The brochure is available from the press office and from tomorrow morning can be downloaded at www.lawsociety.org.uk/jurisdictionofchoice.  The brochure includes the promotion of draft clauses for insertion in to commercial contracts at the contract agreement stage to recognise the application of English law to that contract. 

This will be followed up in 2008 with a series of events in other jurisdictions to promote the messages in the booklet.