Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System

The economic importance of legal services can hardly be overstated. The Coalition Government is anxious to support the legal profession in attempting to ensure that commercial organisations from around the world take advantage of the legal expertise that is available in the City of London.

In a paper published  early in May 2012 by the Ministry of Justice it is stated:

‘This country can lay claim to be the world focus of legal services, with the law of England & Wales providing the legal framework for most international commercial transactions; while most of the litigation before courts in the UK involves at least one foreign party. Also, there are virtually no barriers for international law firms wishing to enter the UK market, making London the home of more than 200 foreign law firms.
This freedom to operate and the high international regard for law in the UK leads to confidence in our legal system and this confidence has helped make UK legal services so important to our economy. Legal Services contributed around £19.3bn to the UK economy in 2010, approximately 1.3% of GDP. Legal services exports for 2010 totalled £3.6bn in 2010. We offer a trusted and experienced judiciary operating out of efficient courts and our legal practitioners are of outstanding quality in every area of expertise.’
The paper can be found at http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/corporate-reports/moj/2012/justice-for-business

A further initiative organised by the Bar Council, the Law Society and TheCityUK, UK Trade & Investment, with Government support, and input from a large number of major city law firms has established a new organisation called Unlocking Disputes:

see http://www.unlockingdisputes.co.uk/