Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Arbitral confidentiality and interim injunctions: High Court of England and Wales refuses injunction restraining solicitors; scope and American Cyanamid in A Corporation v Firm B [2025] EWHC 1092 (Comm)

Published on: 12 June 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Arbitration expert

Legal News

Article summary

A Corporation v Firm B and another [2025] EWHC 1092 (Comm) What are the practical implications of this case?

This ruling makes clear that confidentiality obligations reach across the arbitral hearing and process, capturing not only any transcript or note, but also documents disclosed by one party to others, as well as material created or prepared for, and then used or produced in, the arbitration, together with the award itself.

Accordingly, lawyers and their clients must adopt robust confidentiality procedures to avoid any unauthorised release of such material, thereby preserving the privacy and integrity of the arbitral process.

The decision also exposes the practical strains for international law firms with offices in multiple jurisdictions. Here, the court recorded that certain lawyers in the First defendant’s London office who had worked on the First Arbitration agreed to step aside from the Second Arbitration. The defendants also accepted a change of personnel, undertook a thorough review of the case file with the aim of deleting any infringing information, and were locked out of the case file...

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