Pandemic not a hindrance to New High Court claims in 2021
Despite challenges presented by the pandemic, new claim activity in the High Court was almost on a par with 2020.
As we say farewell to 2021, we take a look back at a turbulent past 12 months of High Court activity. From an onslaught of ‘diesel-gate’ claims fuelled by air quality concerns, to intense intellectual property battles between supermarket giants and the biggest UK class-action lawsuit against Mastercard, the past year was brimming with new activity and litigation opportunities.
With rapidly changing restrictions due to emerging Covid variants, the legal sector has been under pressure to operate as normally as possible whilst navigating these challenges. Overall, new claim activity in the High Court has been less impacted by the pandemic than originally anticipated. The legal sector, previously slow to utilise new technology, has adapted to the crisis and rapidly adopted virtual hearings, allowing legal proceedings to continue. In fact, 2021 was a consistent year with similar claim volumes being issued across all quarters, with an average of roughly 1,272 disputes issued in each quarter. Q2 is an exception, driven in the majority by an influx of data privacy claims.
Approximately 5,255 disputes were brought to the Queen’s Bench and Chancery Divisions in 2021, almost exactly equal to 2020 activity (5,259).
For deeper 2021 High Courts insights, look out for Solomonic’s Year in Review report which will be published later this month.
Top 15 law firms
Reviewing the state of the litigation market based on new claim activity alone does not provide a full picture of the market. But it can provide some interesting insights and we believe can be used as a proxy for market share and claim trends.
Litigation has a very long tail, with almost 1,500 law firms advising on High Court litigation in 2021. Yet this is a 10% decrease compared to 2020, a consolidation in the litigation market space. At the point of issue, we often know more about the claimant representatives, so when considering claimant law firms only, the contraction in the market is 6% lower YOY - not as steep, but still a decline.
The top 15 most active law firms account for 20% of total claims in 2021, indicating market share amongst the most active has been remarkably consistent.
As predicted, new claim activity picked up throughout Q4, with the most active litigation heavyweights clustered at the top by the end of the year.
Pure Legal Ltd’s pursuit of private information misuse claims largely ceased by the end of summer following a damning court order in late July and they entered administration at the start of November. Despite just hanging on to their top position as the most active law firm in 2021, with 160 claims, it is unlikely that we will see a repeat of this in 2022.
For a second year, Clyde & Co LLP maintained their market leading position in terms of claim volume, representing 153 claims with a 2:3 claimant:defendant ratio. We tend to know fewer defendant law firms, so these figures are significant and reflective of Clyde’s extensive full-service expertise.
Legal powerhouses RPC (Reynold Porter Chamberlain LLP) and DAC Beachcroft LLP were neck and neck through much of the year and finished tied at joint third with 149 claims.
As evidenced by the rise (and demise) of Pure Legal Ltd, low-value data privacy claims have caused a large shift in law firm rankings based on claim volumes compared with 2020. Irvings Law also played a part in this increase, rising into the top 15. Leigh Day has more than doubled their claim volume compared to 2020, though driven mainly by diesel emission group action claims.
There have been further notable shifts compared to the previous year. DWF Law LLP positioned sixth this year compared with third in 2020. Last year, Mishcon de Reya LLP secured seventh position based on overall claim volume with 95 claims. This year, they rank the fifth highest by volume when looking at the claimant side alone.
Top law firms excluding data protection claims
The volume of litigation relating to data protection almost doubled compared to 2020. However, growth has evidently been stunted following the UK Supreme Court blocking the Lloyd v Google data breach appeal and the collapse of the most prolific force in the market.
The presence of these claims issued by Pure Legal Ltd and Irvings Law caused an unprecedented disruption in the claims market. In the main, these claims targeted banks, hospitals, and any other institution with private records and almost all were seeking a low value payoff, between £3-5k. It seems the High Court was exploited to an extent as these claims should have been dealt with in the small claims or county court. Despite this, it also presented new opportunities for heavyweight firms as Freeths LLP, RPC and DAC Beachcroft LLP collectively defended almost a third of these claims.
Our alternate overview of 2021 excludes data protection claims, altering the rankings as overall claim volumes are reduced. Nonetheless, the top is almost unchanged with leading disputes giants Clyde & Co LLP, DAC Beachcroft LLP and RPC comprising the top 3 positions.
Top claimant law firms
Pure Legal Ltd were barely active in Q4, yet remained as top claimant law firm by volume due to the sheer number of claims issued in the first few months of 2021.
Irvings Law mirrors Pure Legal in their focus on data claims and ended the year in joint second position, having issued only a few new claims in the last few months of 2021, perhaps being more cautious due to the fall of their former competitor and increased risk surrounding low value data protection claims. Tied with them are Leigh Day who continued to push diesel emission claims, securing their position.
Clyde & Co LLP are fourth top claimant law firm and Mishcon de Reya LLP are fifth.
Notably, Hamlins LLP significantly increased their claim volume representing big music licensors Performing Right Society and Phonographic Performance against several fitness organisations for copyright infringement. Claims against MGN Ltd and News Group Newspapers Ltd also contribute to this total.
Top defendant law firms
Typically, it is the heavyweight firms who take the lion's share of defendant work, and the past year has been little different. RPC established themselves as top defendant law firm of 2021 and maintained this hold throughout the year.
DAC Beachcroft LLP were runners up and unsurprisingly other big hitters, Clyde & Co LLP and Kennedys Law LLP took third and fourth, with DWF Law LLP close behind.
New entrants include TLT LLP who have climbed to eighth this year, up twelve places compared to last year, representing banking giants in the main. Freeths LLP features too, defendant law firm of the most recent Aldi dispute filed by Marks & Spencer for alleged infringement of their light-up gin bottle design.
Magic circle firm Clifford Chance LLP defended fewer claims this year. Likewise, Shoosmiths LLP fell short of making the list, despite defending several rent arrears claims for high street businesses.
All data correct as of 12:00 7th Jan 22.
NB: Our analysis does not include courts that we do not currently cover or publish in full.