Leading commercial judge Mr Justice Knowles has said judges and lawyers must "work harder" to maintain the UK's status as one of the top destinations for dispute resolution.

Knowles hailed specialist judges and more flexible trial procedures as key to maintaining the UK's leadership in international commercial dispute resolution.

Speaking at the Legal Week Commercial Litigation and Arbitration Forum in London yesterday, Knowles said judges had to continuously improve how they tried cases as part of an ongoing strategy to safeguard English law's international credentials.

He said the quality of the UK's judiciary, law firms, bar and "world-class" academic institutions had helped the UK meet the dispute resolution needs of international business, but warned that in the future "we will have to work harder to enable UK law to make its contribution".

Knowles, who is a designated judge on the recently launched Financial List, which will handle financial market cases, joined a host of leading City partners, in-house lawyers and QCs at the forum at The Waldorf Hilton.

He said the Financial List was a key part of a judge-led strategy to maintain the UK courts' place in the global hierarchy of international dispute resolution centres.

Knowles also singled out the Market Test Case Scheme, which is currently being piloted, as an example of how the courts could promote financial stability.

"The pilot provides a mechanism for the court to grant declaratory relief," he said, "to clarify a point before damage becomes systemic; to address uncertainty at an early point rather than waiting until the damage is done."

Other speakers at the forum, which was co-chaired by CMS litigation partner Guy Pendell and Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) dispute resolution partner Tim Parkes, included former Royal Dutch Shell legal director and current 39 Essex Street member Peter Rees QC and Peter Werner, senior director at the International Swaps and Derivatives Association.

In his keynote speech, Rees said arbitration "was created, and has evolved, as an alternative to the rigid formality of court proceedings" but warned it was in danger of losing its appeal to businesses.

He called for a series of reforms to arbitration procedures to make them more flexible, including a greater willingness by arbitrators to strike out claims at an early stage and preside over pre-hearings to determine key issues.

Opening the conference, Pendell highlighted the rising status of Singapore and Hong Kong as international dispute resolution centres.

"Is the government and the judiciary doing enough to keep our civil procedure efficient, whilst delivering just and predictable outcomes?" he asked.

"Is it time to revise the 1996 Arbitration Act here in England and Wales? This legislation is now almost 20 years old and in that time, many countries have updated and modernised their laws of arbitration many times and continue to do so?"

Sessions at the forum, which was held in association with the Commercial Litigators' Forum, included a roundtable on the role of PR in fighting litigation, led by Stuart Leach, managing director – crisis and litigation at Bell Pottinger, while Essex Court Chambers' Richard Millet QC analysed the use of corporate vehicles.

Meanwhile, a panel comprising HSF global head of dispute resolution Justin D'Agostino, EY partner Maggie Stilwell, Allen & Overy counsel Kate Davies and Kai-Uwe Karl, executive counsel – litigation, GE oil and gas, highlighted the challenge faced by the judiciary to boost the diversity of its judges.

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