Supporting foreign proceedings

Are you pursuing a claim where the defendant’s assets are located around the world? Is it likely that the defendant will destroy documents and/or dissipate assets to frustrate your claim and its enforcement? If so, we can help you pursue the claim by preserving assets across the globe, and at the same time provide you with a crucial tactical advantage.

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The English Court has an over-reaching power to assist legal proceedings wherever in the world they take place. Section 25 of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 allows it to make interim orders in support of and immediately prior to commencement of proceedings overseas. These interim orders include worldwide freezing orders, asset disclosure orders, search and seizure orders, and orders for delivery up of passports.

A claimant can apply to the English Court for these orders at the outset of a claim, without giving notice to the intended defendant of the main claim in the home jurisdiction. The draconian nature of these orders, coupled with the element of surprise which is generated by their service, means that a claimant can gain an important tactical advantage over a defendant at the outset, which may precipitate an early settlement.

With co-ordinated action, we can freeze assets in multiple jurisdictions simultaneously. Defendants can be forced to give sworn evidence as to the locations of documents and assets, and ordered to deliver up their passports until they comply, with the threat of imprisonment if they don’t comply.

The relatively low threshold for a successful section 25 application gives a claimant in any jurisdiction worldwide access to some of the strongest weapons in the English Court’s arsenal. The wide scope of section 25, particularly the availability of worldwide freezing orders, allows a claimant with a multi-jurisdictional claim to launch a co-ordinated and effective first strike against a defendant, which grabs the initiative and gives the best possible support to the proceedings in the home jurisdiction.