Navigating the litigation landscape in 2025

With 2025 well and truly underway, and festive holidays already a distant memory, now is the time to look to the year ahead and consider what issues we anticipate will dominate the litigation landscape.  While technological advancements and related evolving client expectations will inevitably permeate throughout the legal sector, in many ways the litigation sphere has the advantage when it comes to identifying some of the wider trends that may lie around the corner. 

Litigation trends continue to be closely connected with some of the most significant global events. In 2024, the courts remained occupied with cases stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic, highlighting the litigation sector’s important role in dealing with significant societal disruptions.  The lessons learned from such cases provide litigators with invaluable insight into the types of issues and disputes that are likely to dominate in the future.

Applying that broader lens, we’ve selected a few key areas poised for growth in 2025, the first of which being Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) related litigation.  You need only look at the news headlines which have dominated the start of this year for evidence of large-scale disruptive climate related events, including severe flooding and wildfires.   Wherever you sit in respect of the climate change agenda, there’s no escaping the increasing demands for action, whether through implementation and enforcement of laws and regulation or direct challenge of specific acts or omissions through the courts. 

2025 will see the International Court of Justice (ICJ), hand down a much-awaited advisory opinion on international law concerning climate change.  The proceedings began in March 2023 with the public hearings concluding in December 2024.  The ICJ’s opinion will address two questions with far reaching legal implications – (1) what are the obligations of States under international law to ensure the protection of the climate system and other parts of the environment from anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases; and (2) what are the legal consequences under those obligations for States where they, by their acts and omissions, have caused significant harm to the climate system and other parts of the environment? 

As public awareness of the urgent need for action in respect of issues of climate change and social justice continues to rise, in the UK, as in other parts of the world, ESG compliance and reporting is increasingly shifting away from voluntary corporate accountability, and being replaced with more mandatory requirements – although the extent has varied across different sectors. In one example, from the UK financial sector, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has continued to develop formal sustainability reporting and disclosure requirements, designed to standardise how those operating within financial services and markets share information and thereby improve transparency on climate-related and wider sustainability matters.  A focus for the FCA in 2025, will be on improving trust and integrity in ESG-labelled investment instruments, through enforcement of its new regulatory requirements (which came into force in May 2024) designed to combat ‘greenwashing’.   This example reflects a broader trend facing companies, requiring that they carefully navigate their growing legal and moral obligations under increased public scrutiny from not only a regulatory point of view, but from investors and consumers. Failure to do so properly, raises significant financial and reputational risks. 

Another area within ESG focused litigation which may experience a particular rise is in the form of class actions. From a broader litigation trend perspective this type of case is something we are likely to see increase during 2025.

Class actions (or group claims) have remained a prominent aspect of the UK litigation landscape in recent years, and following several high-profile claims advancing through the courts in 2024, 2025 is likely to follow suit. One possible reason for which has been increased visibility of what class actions are, leading to increased public awareness of collective rights. Another factor has been the increased availability of litigation funding which has reduced (and in some cases removed) the financial burden associated with certain litigation. It is worth bearing in mind that 2025 is also expected to see the outcome of the Civil Justice Council review of the litigation funding sector, which is one key issue to watch given the impacts it could have. 

A final trend to note that litigators need to monitor closely in 2025 is the rise in fraud cases. Recent geopolitical events, combined with broader global tensions and economic uncertainty, has created fertile ground for fraudulent activities.  The National Crime Agency has declared that fraud (which includes cyber fraud, financial fraud and corporate fraud) now accounts for over 40% of crime in England and Wales and that 89% of fraud reported to Action fraud is cyber-enabled. Cryptocurrency fraud is gaining prominence as digital assets can be exploited due to the anonymity and decentralisation that this offers. With a lack of understanding of the intricacies of cryptocurrencies and the current lack of regulation in place (although this is changing), there is ever growing demand for specialist legal advisors and particularly litigators with expertise in this complex area. 

The UK litigation landscape for 2025 looks to be both challenging and dynamic which presents real opportunities for novel issues to be considered and the potential for significant growth in new areas.  Amongst all the change, litigators will need to skilfully navigate their clients through the complexities while carefully managing expectations and mitigating the risks.  With the legal sector increasingly exploring the use of AI and chatbots as innovative ways of delivering services to clients, it will remain the role of the individual litigators to build client trust and deliver value in an increasingly competitive market.