Stewarts and Solomonic have worked together to produce and analyse data regarding commercial fraud claims in the civil courts of England and Wales.
Partners Alex Jay, Mo Bhaskaran, Pia Mithani, Elaina Bailes and Marc Jones and senior associate Charlie Mercer have co-authored the new report, which examines the most striking trends in fraud claims based on data produced by Solomonic.
Current trends in fraud litigation
- Volume – The number of claims issued and judgments given involving issues of fraud has generally increased in recent years, although there was a reduction in claims issued in 2022 and there has been a plateau in judgments since 2019.
- Preferred courts – The Commercial Court is the clear court of choice for issuing fraud claims, ahead of the Business List, the general King’s Bench Division and the Circuit Commercial Court.
- International reach – A sample study of claim forms illustrates the international nature of claimants, although the proportion of UK-based claimants increased in 2021 and 2022.
- Success rates – Where fraud claims have reached the judgment stage since 2014, they have had a c.50% success rate, which is higher than other tort claims and significantly higher than negligence claims.
- Sectors – Banking and finance claims predominate – but there were spikes in real estate and technology, media & telecoms disputes in 2022.
- Cryptocurrency – Cryptocurrency claims have increased significantly since 2019, and there is a notable overlap with fraud.
What does the future hold for fraud litigation?
Our team looks ahead to what will shape the landscape for fraud claims in the near future. Trends to watch include the current economic headwinds, legislative and procedural changes, recent UK Supreme Court cases and the continued development of litigation relating to cryptoassets.
More about Stewarts and Solomonic
Stewarts is the UK’s largest litigation-only law firm with more than 400 staff, including 80 partners. We act for governments, sovereign wealth funds, corporates and individual clients in high-value and complex disputes, including fraud and asset tracing claims and some of the world’s largest fraud disputes and investigations.
We act for clients in both pursuing and defending fraud claims. Our lawyers co-ordinate claims in multiple jurisdictions, when necessary working alongside specialist law firms around the world.
Solomonic is an award-winning and intuitive litigation analytics platform. Its product drives actionable intelligence that transforms the way litigation decisions are made and empowers professionals to operate at the cutting edge of their sector. Solomonic has partnered with Stewarts on the data insights provided in this report.
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