By Louis van Boxel-Woolf
A record number of Russian litigants have used the London Commercial Court in the past year despite sanctions imposed in the wake of the war in Ukraine, new research has revealed.
The number of Russian litigants appearing in the Commercial Court, part of the Business and Property Courts of the High Court, rose by 41 per cent to reach 58 in the year to March 2023, marking a new record, according to research by Portland Communications.
The number of Russian litigants has increased by 81 per cent in the past three years and the country comes second only to the UK in keeping the Commercial Court busy.
38 Russian individuals, 19 companies and the Russian Federation itself have appeared before the Court.
70 per cent of those who appeared were defendants.
Six judgments handed down between April 2022 and March 2023 involved exclusively Russian entities, making Russian disputes the second most heard in the Commercial Court after British ones.
Some litigants have appeared despite being subject to UK government sanctions, including PJSC Bank Otkritie Financial Corporation, which is suing a prominent Putin critic, Boris Mints, for alleged fraud.
The Court ruled that Mints cannot pause the $850m claim despite PJSC Bank being subject to British sanctions in a case that will now be considered by the Court of Appeal.
Contributing to the report, Catherine Baksi, a former barrister, said the full impact of the Russia-Ukraine war would likely become apparent in the coming year as leading London law firms continue to avoid Russian clients.
Many of the judgments handed down since the beginning of the war stem from disputes predating Russia’s invasion, she wrote.
Over half (51 per cent) of the public disapprove of UK courts being used by Russian litigants, according to Portland’s polling, and 51 per cent think less favourably of law firms who serve Russian clients.
Philip Hall, head of Portland’s litigation and disputes practice, said the polling showed “that the law does not exist in a vacuum”.
“Litigation, commercial strategy and reputation can no longer be separated. Today, every entity involved in litigation must consider how the audiences that matter to them will react”, he added.
Portland polled 1,000 adults online for its report.
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