Reasons to be cheerful: the lasting appeal of English law

On 29 September, the Law Society published the fourth edition of its International Data Insights Report, covering the last year and showing a thriving legal profession.

It is based on various reports and court databases, including a collaboration between the Ministry of Justice and consultancy firm Hook Tangaza, TheCityUK’s 2025 Legal Services Report and casework reports of commercial courts in key jurisdictions.

Its most touted finding is a boom in UK legal exports to the international market. The report pins the value of the business globally at £10.97 billion – a rise of 60% on the 2021 figures. This number includes the total value of work done on a short-term basis by UK lawyers travelling to other jurisdictions for business, work done in the UK for visiting foreign clients, and work done remotely by UK lawyers for clients in other jurisdictions.

Mostly, foreign clients are in the EU and the United States. Perhaps unsurprisingly given law firm offices, international trade (and corporate lifestyles), the United Arab Emirates comes as the number one choice for English-qualified solicitors to move overseas, joined on the podium by Hong Kong and Singapore.

And it’s not just the people, but the practice and the profession. Drawing on TheCityUK’s report, the Law Society states that English law underpins 40% of the world’s cross-border business and finance transactions. That includes syndicated bank lending, international bond issuance and derivatives trading.

English law is a key spoke in the wheels of international commerce. Half of all international seaborne trade – estimated at over £13 trillion last year – is conducted under English law contracts. English law governed 28% of last year’s global agricultural trade. English law underpinned around 70% of new Eurobond issues.

English law continues to rank highly as a choice for international arbitration, with the London Maritime Arbitration Association’s caseload outstripping any other maritime centre abroad.

The prevalence of English law overseas is good news for London courts. While still operating at a marginal decrease on previous years, the Commercial Court continues to make its way through a high volume of cases (taking on 1,140 last year). And it’s not plodding: more than half of contested trials were completed in less than a week. It maintains its number one spot in the world for issuing more written judgments than any other comparable international commercial court, with 212 compared to the 117 issued by its closest competitor, the Dubai International Finance Centre’s Civil and Commercial Division’s.

Perhaps as a result of all this, law firm turnovers last year reached a whopping £37.14 billion – up 8% on the previous year. Most of this derives from London-headquartered firms, which represent 68% of the profession’s turnover.

And graduates want in on it. Last year saw a 17% increase in the number of candidates sitting at least one part of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam, with nearly 19,000 budding lawyers sharpening their pencils and checking in to their test centres.

So, what’s the appeal of English law?

English law and the legal profession that wields it are at a competitive advantage. At least for now, they enjoy a confidence born out of a number of factors.

English common law is flexible, but predictable. Businesses can structure their English law contracts to their hearts’ content, and structure them to their specific requirements. As long as they are clear and within the law, an English court will generally uphold them. And due to the courts’ reliance on precedent, how they will deal with disputes and interpretation is generally predictable. There are clear remedies for breach of contract.

The structural independence and professional prestige of the English judiciary remain paramount, with experienced and impartial practitioners giving a strong likelihood of fair and efficient dispute resolution.

London remains a key legal, financial, insurance and disputes centre, known for efficiency and expertise. More than one billion people across the world speak English as a non-native language.

All in all, English law and English-qualified lawyers are in the privileged position of belonging to a recognised and historically appreciated brand.

A cautionary note

But EnglishLaw ™ gets complacent at its own risk. Large firms are wary of their vulnerability to geopolitical exposure and competition from the US market. Small firms are struggling with retention. All firms are grappling with the threat of artificial intelligence and associated client expectations relating to efficiency and pricing. Earlier this year, LexisNexis found a “mentorship gap” long suspected in the market, with 72% of lawyers concerned that junior lawyers would struggle to develop skills of focused legal reasoning and argumentation because of AI.

And it does not do to diminish the status of the legal markets in New York, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Beijing, Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt, Tokyo…the list goes on.

Reasons to be cheerful, yes – but never complacent.