2026 commercial litigation outlook: practical steps for businesses

The picture for 2026 is clear: commercial disputes will rise, more cases will be defended and trials will remain significant despite modest efficiency gains.

Official court data confirms increasing receipts and trials; 2025 case law tightened standards on fraud, financial services liability and contractual risk allocation; to which financial stress continues to fuel insolvency-linked disputes.

This article distils the latest statistics and commentary into practical guidance for directors, businesses and litigators, with a focus on reducing litigation risk, controlling legal spend and improving dispute resolution outcomes.

Litigation volume is rising

Civil courts processed more claims and more trials in late 2025 and the trend shows no sign of reversing:

• County Court claims rose 4 percent year on year in Q3 2025 to 479,000, driven largely by money
• Defended cases increased 11 percent to 76,000 and trials climbed 9 percent to 14,000
• Median time to trial improved slightly: 39 weeks for small claims and 60 weeks for fast, intermediate and multi-track cases. These are modest gains, but overall durations remain significant for business planning
• Judgments rose 12 percent to 331,000, with 94 percent entered by default, signalling persistent debt pressure and non-engagement by some counterparties

Implications for businesses:

Budget for contested litigation. More counterparties are defending, so expect interim skirmishes such as strike-out, summary judgment and disclosure applications rather than quick defaults.

Plan for time and cost. Even with faster throughput, trials take months.

Escalation clauses, early case assessment and ADR checkpoints should be used as cost-control tools, built into governance and playbooks from the outset.

Implications for litigators:

Rising defence and trial rates demand front-loaded strategy and disciplined case management.

Early procedural wins, focused disclosure and targeted interim relief can shorten the path to settlement or trial and improve enforcement prospects.

Sector hotspots for 2026

Technology and IP

Expect copyright and licensing disputes, trade secrets claims and urgent injunctions over data use or software deployment. The speed and quality of expert input often decide interim relief. Courts in 2025 showed little patience for speculative arguments about cutting-edge technology; outcomes turned on clear contractual frameworks, clean data and robust evidence.

For businesses in software, data analytics, AI and cloud services, practical steps include tightening licence terms, mapping data flows, and preparing expert materials in advance so injunctions can be sought or resisted on a solid evidential foundation.

Directors, shareholder and governance

Company officers should prepare for unfair prejudice petitions, derivative actions and disclosure-driven fights. The thread running through recent judgments is accountability. Courts demand clear factual narratives, honest communication and defensible allocation of risk across the corporate structure.

Insolvency and restructuring

Cash-flow stress persists in construction, hospitality and retail. Elevated default judgments and defended money claims point to more statutory demands, winding-up petitions and office-holder claims including preferences, transactions at undervalue and misfeasance.

For directors and creditors, early advice on standstills, priority and enforcement routes remains critical to avoiding value-destructive litigation.

Financial services and payments

APP fraud litigation continues, with courts refining banks’ duties and clarifying the boundaries of the Quincecare duty. The motor finance commission landscape and the FCA’s late-2025 consultation suggest further consumer-facing claims through 2026, with lenders and brokers under pressure to demonstrate fair arrangements and clear disclosures.

In parallel, courts are pressing parties on evidential quality and contractual risk allocation in complex financial transactions. Bank and fintech litigation teams should assemble facts tightly, map payment journeys and resist speculative pleadings.

Practical guidance for businesses

Audit your contracts and relationships

Directors should be looking to take more time and scrutinise pricing, variation mechanisms, termination and suspension rights and discretion clauses. Many 2020 to 2022 agreements are being tested by business partners who are struggling to meet demand or costs. Clarity now prevents disputes later.

Seek advice and review dispute resolution clauses for ADR triggers and escalation steps so mediation is practical and enforceable. Include clear timelines for escalation and specify governing law and jurisdiction to avoid ambiguity in cross-border disputes.

De-escalation and early resolution

Build mediation or settlement checkpoints into your dispute playbook. With defended claims and trials rising, narrowing issues early, reduces overall cost and operational distraction. Use trends from 2025 to set realistic timeframes for each step and to budget accurately. We suggest you treat ADR as a project with deadlines and measurable outcomes.

Be ready to contend with insolvency

It is important to monitor your business receivables. We suggest you move decisively where enforcement is warranted but consider standstills and restructuring plans where value can be preserved.

Businesses should always use great record keeping and organisation to be ready to anticipate office-holder scrutiny of antecedent transactions. Antecedent transactions are pre insolvency dealings (such as transactions at undervalue, preferences, voidable floating charges and transactions defrauding creditors) that an office holder can challenge and unwind. If you need pre-emptive legal advice on how insolvency of business partners affects you or whether it can assist you, then you should reach out early.

Keeping contemporaneous notes explaining decisions on payments and asset transfers to defend against misfeasance claims. It may also assist you implement automated credit monitoring tools to flag early warning signs of financial distress in your business relationships.

Litigation budgeting and data

Create a litigation budget with your legal advisors that includes interlocutory applications such as summary judgment and specific disclosure. Use historic case data, which is publicly available, to help your clients understand timescales and costs. This aligns with commentary that defended cases are rising and interim skirmishes are inevitable.

Incorporate scenario planning for settlement windows and trial contingencies to improve predictability and control spend.

Practical guidance for litigators

Make early assessments of the case

Within 14 days, it assists your clients if you issue a concise early case assessment covering merits, interlocutory strategy, disclosure scope, settlement windows and budget scenarios.

Use MoJ Q3 data to frame duration and cost expectations for clients. Include a risk matrix covering enforcement prospects and insolvency exposure. Highlight opportunities for early procedural wins and ADR leverage.

Interlocutory strategy

Interlocutory applications are now central to effective litigation management and cost control.

• Strike-out and summary judgment can eliminate weak claims early and discourage speculative amendments
• Targeted disclosure applications can narrow issues and reduce trial complexity
• Freezing orders or security for costs may be appropriate where counterparties show signs of financial stress
• Interim injunctions can prevent misuse of confidential information or maintain the status quo in technology disputes

Build a timeline for these applications into your case plan to manage client expectations and costs.

Invest in tech-enabled disclosure

Adopt e-disclosure platforms that support analytics and proportionality. Line up independent experts in payments, data, accounting and software early. Use analytics to identify key custodians and reduce disclosure volume. Deploy predictive coding and keyword optimisation to cut review time and improve accuracy.

ADR Integration

Plan ADR windows around procedural milestones. After disclosure or a successful interim application, propose mediation to leverage momentum. Judicial encouragement of ADR makes this a cost-control tool. Document the ADR outcomes and integrate lessons learned into future case strategies to demonstrate value to clients.

Bottom line for 2026

Commercial disputes are increasing, more claims are being defended and trials remain a realistic endpoint. Courts processed higher volumes in 2025, while time to trial improved only slightly. Insolvency activity is elevated, financial services disputes continue and technology and IP issues are prominent where contracts, data and evidence are decisive.

Businesses should:

• Plan for contested litigation and budget for interim applications
• Build early case assessment and ADR into your standard playbook
• Tighten contracts and governance to reduce future disputes
• Maintain insolvency readiness with clean records and clear decision trails
• Strengthen payment controls and document remediation where needed

Litigators should:

• Front load strategy, disclosure and interim applications to create leverage
  Prepare directions which are proportionate to value and complexity
  Keep pleadings focused on duties, causation and the documents that prove them
  Use technology enabled disclosure and early expert input to speed decisions

The approach in 2026 should be creating a disciplined plan and pragmatic mindset to protect your budgets, reduce disruption and improve outcomes.

In 2026, clients will choose firms that deliver outcomes, not adjectives.

How Morr & Co can help?

If you have any questions or would like any further information on the content of this article, please do not hesitate to contact our Dispute Resolution team on 0333 038 9100 or email info@morrlaw.com and a member of our expert team will get back to you.

Disclaimer
Although correct at the time of publication, the contents of this newsletter/blog are intended for general information purposes only and shall not be deemed to be, or constitute, legal advice. We cannot accept responsibility for any loss as a result of acts or omissions taken in respect of this article. Please contact us for the latest legal position.

Sources: Ministry of Justice – Civil justice statistics quarterly: July to September 2025, Solomonic half-year review 2025, Exchange Chambers commentary.