Is your dispute governed by English Law? Look no further.


London is one of the most important dispute resolution centres in the world. Burness Paull has a distinct English law dispute resolution team and is a leading firm for complex and high-value English law disputes.

The partners in our team hail from some of the world’s largest law firms and have been involved in disputes in the English Courts on behalf of clients from, or issues arising in, myriad jurisdictions within North and Central America, South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

The broader team works day-to-day on English and international disputes and are qualified to practise in England and Wales. New markets can often present challenges and can lead to disputes, and we are uniquely placed to manage these by providing a single streamlined service, linking in when appropriate with our top-quality global legal network.

Our English law dispute resolution team work with the leading barristers in London (when barristers are needed) and are routinely instructed in place of the largest traditional city firms given our ability to offer City of London quality in a more flexible manner.

We get to know our clients and their businesses, their ethos and their values – how they operate and what is important to them. As a result, clients often ask us to help them with their strategy, guiding them to anticipate and avoid problems before they arise.

Burness Paull's English law dispute resolution team is specifically known for expertise in:

  • Energy and Oil & Gas Disputes
  • Civil fraud and asset tracing
  • Commercial and Contractual Disputes
  • M&A, Partnership and Shareholder Disputes
  • Banking and Finance Litigation
  • Real estate litigation

Burness Paull has a dedicated International Arbitration team and have advised clients in relation to arbitrations for and against corporations and foreign states under the rules of the world’s leading arbitral institutions (including the International Court of Arbitration (the ICC), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC)) as well as ad hoc arbitration under the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

The firm is also experienced in related High Court applications to support arbitral proceedings as well as in relation to the enforcement or annulment of arbitral awards.

We have invested heavily in developing relationships with the leading firms across the world and work with them to deal with our clients’ most challenging cross-border disputes.

Outside the formal dispute processes, or before formal disputes arise, we regularly provide strategic disputes advice, including:

  1. advice as to dispute resolution tactics
  2. advice on governing law and jurisdiction clauses in contracts to maximise client advantage in cross-border disputes
  3. legal opinions on dispute merits, costs of claiming or defending and key risks
  4. pre-action support, including in relation to formal court pre-action correspondence