London International Disputes Week 2026

By Chris Webber on May 5, 2026 Posted in Dispute Resolution

Squire Patton Boggs is proud to host dynamic and wide-ranging events as part of this year’s London International Disputes Week running 1 – 5 June 2026. Join us for a series of thought-provoking discussions with industry experts from the firm and elsewhere. From global litigation risk to regulatory flashpoints and geopolitical fault lines, our sessions explore some of the key issues of the day and the impact on you.

Registration for sessions is now open, and is on a first come, first served basis.

Our Session Highlights Include

Crossing the Pond? Group Actions in the US and UK Compared

We look at the future of the UK’s group action landscape – how closely will it follow the US? Join us for the latest developments in the UK and the trends emerging in the US as we compare and contrast the two.

Wednesday 3 June | 9 – 10:30 a.m. | Learn more

High Court upholds FCA’s first use of “name and shame” powers

By Chris Webber on February 24, 2026 Posted in Dispute Resolution, Investigations, Motor finance, Regulation

The High Court’s judgment in R (Claims Protection Agency Limited) v Financial Conduct Authority is a milestone for regulatory publicity. In a case closely watched by the financial services community, the court upheld the FCA’s decision to publicly identify a regulated firm as the subject of an enforcement investigation under its new “exceptional circumstances” publicity power — confirming both the scope of that power and the deference courts will give to the regulator’s judgment.

FCA Enforcement Watch 1 – clues for asset managers about enforcement risks in 2026

By Chris Webber on February 16, 2026 Posted in Investment Management, Regulation

The FCA’s publication of Enforcement Watch 1 marks an important shift in how the regulator communicates enforcement risk to the market. While the FCA has stepped back from proposals to routinely name firms under investigation, Enforcement Watch signals a targeted transparency approach, designed to highlight priorities and shape behaviour – without waiting for final outcomes.

For asset managers, the first edition is revealing. It gives a window into the types of conduct the FCA is actively investigating and the themes it considers warrant public signalling.

Closing the Open Justice gap by widening public access to court documents

By Christian Toms on January 7, 2026 Posted in Banking, Contracts and Agreements, Crypto-Assets, Dispute Resolution, Fraud and Financial Crime

Since 1 January 2026, a two-year pilot is now running in the English Commercial Court (including the London Circuit Commercial Court) and the Financial List which changes how public access to court documents works. If you are involved in litigation in these courts, documents used or referred to in public hearings during the Pilot period must also be filed in a new, public section of the courts’ online (CE-File) system. This now means that witness statements, expert reports and other key documents in your case could more easily become publicly accessible, unless steps are taken to try to protect their confidentiality.

The Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025 – Why It Matters

By Christian Toms on December 17, 2025 Posted in Contracts and Agreements, Crypto-Assets, Dispute Resolution, Fraud and Financial Crime, Regulation

On 2 December 2025, the Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025 (the “2025 Act”) came into force. The Act confirms that digital assets can attract personal property rights even though they fall outside traditional classifications. The Act is deliberately short, leaving the development of this new category of personal property, and the rights that may be attached to it, very much to the courts. Accordingly, while this new Act may have put one issue to bed it still leaves a number of others open to debate.

FCA publishes views on firms’ risk assessment processes and controls

By Chris Webber on November 18, 2025 Posted in Fraud and Financial Crime, Regulation, Uncategorized

The FCA has recently published its multi-firm review: Risk assessment processes and controls in firms: our findings (11 November 2025) which focuses on how regulated firms are conducting business-wide risk assessments (BWRA) and customer risk assessments (CRA).

Weak risk-assessment frameworks can invite regulatory scrutiny, so firms should consider whether the review findings warrant changes to their approach.

A range of firms participated, spanning building societies, platforms, custody and fund services, payments firms, and wealth-management. The review findings are therefore of wide application.

The review evaluated firms’ risk assessment controls against a number of regimes/guidance, including the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, the FCA’s Financial Crime Guide, the Senior Management Arrangements, SYSC rules, and Joint Money Laundering Steering Group (JMLSG) and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidance.

The end of the road for motor finance claims? The hotly awaited decision in Johnson v FirstRand (and others)

By Katherine Wakeham and Helena Clarke on August 4, 2025 Posted in Dispute Resolution, Litigation Funding, Mis-Selling

Those (including us) tuning in on Friday afternoon to hear the Supreme Court’s decision in the combined appeals of Hopcraft and another v Close Brothers Limited; Johnson v FirstRand Bank Limited (London Branch) t/a MotoNovo Finance; and Wrench v FirstRand Bank Limited will not have been alone. Rarely is a judgment as eagerly anticipated as the Supreme Court’s consideration of three test cases arising out of the purchase of cars on finance has been.

A New Gateway for Cross-Border Enforcement: Hague Judgments Convention Comes into Effect in the UK on 1 July 2025

By Lucy Webster and Thulasy Packianathan on June 9, 2025 Posted in Contracts and Agreements, Dispute Resolution

The Hague Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (the “Hague Judgments Convention”) will come into effect in the UK on 1 July 2025. The process of enforcing UK judgments[1] in other contracting states (including all EU Member States (except Denmark), Ukraine and Uruguay) will now be far more streamlined in most cases, thereby reducing the delay, cost and uncertainty of enforcement in those jurisdictions.

While the entry into force of the Hague Judgments Convention in the UK is a welcome step in the facilitation of cross-border dispute resolution, particularly post-Brexit, there are some notable limitations to its scope. For instance, it does not provide for the automatic recognition and enforcement of relevant judgments, judgments must meet certain requirements, and it will apply only to UK judgments where the underlying proceedings were commenced on or after 1 July 2025.

FCA’s discretion upheld in IRHP redress scheme judicial review

By Chris Webber on May 14, 2025 Posted in Banking, Mis-Selling, Motor finance, Regulation

Timely insights into the design of mass consumer redress schemes

In R (All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Banking) v Financial Conduct Authority [2025] EWHC 525 (Admin), the High Court examined the FCA’s decision regarding the exclusion of certain customers from the scope of the voluntary Interest Rate Hedging Products (IRHP) redress scheme established in 2012, which was criticised in a subsequent independent review. The case contains important insights into the trade-offs involved in the design of such schemes, given the high likelihood that the FCA will soon be rolling out a redress scheme to deal with motor finance mis-selling.

Court of Appeal reaffirms stance on fiduciary duties in half-secret commission cases

By Chris Webber on March 27, 2025 Posted in Banking, Contracts and Agreements, Dispute Resolution

Some years it seems like there are no cases of any real importance. 2025 is not one of those years.

Last week a strong Court of Appeal doubled down on a key element of the landmark Johnson v FirstRand decision on secret commissions in motor finance (about to be heard before the Supreme Court). In Expert Tooling and Automation Ltd v Engie Power Ltd [2025] EWCA Civ 292 the Court held that an energy broker owed fiduciary duties not to accept half-secret commissions for broking an energy supply agreement without getting fully informed consent from its client.