1. What is the current legal landscape for litigation in your jurisdiction?

Bermuda continues to reinforce its position as a leading offshore jurisdiction for the resolution of complex cross-border and domestic commercial disputes. Its specialist Commercial Court, sophisticated legal framework, and robust regulatory environment make it a preferred choice for high-value litigation spanning insurance and reinsurance, investment funds, restructuring and insolvency, trusts, regulatory enforcement, and shareholder disputes.

The shareholder appraisal space has produced some of the most significant recent jurisprudence. In 2025, the Privy Council delivered two landmark judgments arising from the Jardine Strategic amalgamation – Jardine Strategic Limited v Oasis Investments II Master Fund Ltd et al (No 1) [2025] UKPC 33 and (No 2) [2025] UKPC 34 – confirming that post-announcement acquirors may invoke appraisal rights and abolishing the long-standing ‘shareholder rule’ on legal advice privilege. The Supreme Court’s detailed valuation judgment in Glendina Pty Limited et al v NKWE Platinum Ltd (2025) SC (Bda) 15 Civ also provides authoritative guidance on fair value determinations, awarding a 30% uplift on the offer price.

Restructuring and insolvency activity remains active, with between 15 and 30 winding-up petitions per year. The BMA is increasingly using insolvency proceedings as a regulatory tool, and proposals are under consideration to introduce a court-appointed restructuring officer and to reduce the threshold for scheme of arrangement approval from 75% to 66%.

On the regulatory front, new legislative frameworks are generating disputes and enforcement activity: the Corporate Income Tax Act 2023 became effective in January 2025, and the Personal Information Protection Act 2016 came into full force on 1 January 2025. Both are expected to generate compliance disputes and regulatory investigations in the coming years. With a FATF mutual evaluation due to commence in October 2026, regulatory enforcement is expected to intensify.

Procedurally, the Chief Justice has announced the procurement of an electronic case management system with funding approved, extensive courtroom renovations under way, and a new Judicial Complaints Protocol in effect from April 2025.

2. What three essential pieces of advice would you give to clients involved in litigation matters?

First, consider negotiated resolution early. A deal on the right terms is often the best outcome, and Bermuda’s compact business community means that the reputational and relational costs of litigation can be significant. Where a counterparty is important to a client’s long-term business interests, a negotiated settlement may resolve the immediate dispute while preserving the relationship. ADR – whether mediation or, in the right cases, arbitration – should be considered at key stages throughout the dispute, not merely as a last resort.

Second, plan carefully and maintain a clear strategy. Litigation in the Supreme Court will typically take 12 to 18 months from issue to trial, and costs can accumulate quickly in document-intensive matters. Clients should ensure there is a shared and well-articulated vision of objectives, timescales and costs from the outset, and that this is revisited as the matter develops. Early evidence preservation, thorough pre-action correspondence, and disciplined discovery management are all essential to managing risk and avoiding expensive procedural disputes.

Third, stay alert to Bermuda-specific risks and regulatory developments. The jurisdiction’s regulatory environment is becoming more active, and clients operating in Bermuda’s financial services, insurance, reinsurance, digital asset, or trust sectors should be proactive in monitoring enforcement trends and ensuring compliance. The introduction of PIPA, the CITA regime, and the forthcoming FATF evaluation all increase the likelihood of regulatory scrutiny, and early legal advice is far preferable to managing a crisis after the fact.

3. What are the greatest threats and opportunities in litigation law in the next 12 months?

The greatest threats are closely linked to Bermuda’s maturing regulatory environment. The FATF mutual evaluation due to commence in October 2026 has already prompted a spike in enforcement activity by the BMA and other regulators in recent months and following the assessment, increasing the risk of investigations, licensing actions, and follow-on litigation for regulated entities. Compliance with PIPA and the new CITA regime will require continued vigilance, and early challenges to both frameworks are possible. The cost and complexity of electronic discovery in large commercial cases, and the uncertainty surrounding pending Privy Council decisions in trust and other matters (including the Wong v Grand View and Credit Suisse Life (Bermuda) Ltd v Ivanishvili appeals), also represent risks for parties and advisors planning strategy.

On the opportunity front, the Privy Council’s 2025 judgments in the Jardine appraisal cases have clarified the law in ways that may encourage further appraisal claims and generate continued appetite among litigation funders for complex, high-value Bermudian disputes. The growing trust and private wealth sector is expected to produce an increasing volume of trust restructuring applications and family wealth disputes. The expansion of the digital asset sector, following the introduction of the Digital Asset Business Act 2018, will also continue to generate novel regulatory, commercial, and insolvency-related disputes.

4. How do you ensure high client satisfaction levels are maintained by your practice?

High client satisfaction begins with building strong, lasting relationships founded on a genuine understanding of each client’s commercial objectives, risk appetite, and the broader context in which their disputes arise. In Bermuda’s close-knit professional community, those relationships are particularly important, and we invest time in embedding ourselves within client teams so that our advice is always commercially grounded and aligned with what our clients are actually trying to achieve.

We are committed to transparency about costs, timescales, and prospects from the outset, and to keeping clients fully informed as matters develop. In-house legal teams are under increasing pressure to manage spend and demonstrate strategic value, and we seek to add value beyond conventional legal services – whether through practical risk management advice, proactive regulatory monitoring, or efficient use of legal technology to reduce the cost of document-intensive work.

We also recognise that the ability to adapt is essential. Disputes rarely proceed as anticipated, and we remain agile in our approach – whether that means refining strategy, leveraging new tools, or drawing on the broader capabilities of our team – so that our clients receive the most effective and efficient service available throughout the lifecycle of a matter.

5. What technological advancements are reshaping litigation law and how can clients benefit from them?

Technology is reshaping commercial litigation in Bermuda across several dimensions. AI-assisted document review platforms have transformed the economics of large-scale electronic discovery, enabling legal teams to process significantly greater volumes of material more quickly and cost-effectively than was previously possible – a material benefit for clients involved in document-heavy matters such as insurance coverage disputes, merger appraisal cases, and multi-party commercial claims.

Remote hearing facilities and real-time transcription services, normalised during the COVID-19 pandemic, are now a permanent feature of the Bermudian litigation landscape and are becoming an increasingly standard expectation in complex commercial proceedings. The Commercial Court has confirmed its willingness to accommodate remote hearings, reducing the logistical and cost burden of assembling international legal teams and witnesses.

The most significant near-term development is the introduction of an electronic case management system across all levels of the court system – announced by the Chief Justice at the opening of the 2025 judicial year, with funding approved and a procurement process already completed. The system will enable electronic filing and payment of fees, replacing the current regime of hard-copy filings and revenue stamps, and will represent the most substantial modernisation of Bermuda’s court administration in a generation. Extensive courtroom renovations, including a dedicated Court of Appeal courtroom, are also under way.

A further significant development is the imminent launch of the Bermuda International Mediation and Arbitration Centre (BIMAC), which will provide Bermuda with its first dedicated institutional arbitration and mediation facility. The centre has the backing of the Chief Justice, the Attorney General, and a distinguished advisory committee including Dame Elizabeth Gloster DBE. For a jurisdiction that already hosts some of the most complex insurance and reinsurance disputes in the world – and where Bermuda Form arbitrations have long been seated in London or elsewhere for want of a local facility – BIMAC has the potential to capture a significant volume of dispute resolution work that Bermuda has historically exported. Clients can expect a modern, flexible, and well-resourced forum for resolving commercial disputes in the jurisdiction.

More broadly, the increasing sophistication of AI tools is beginning to reshape the respective roles of in-house and external legal teams. Clients will benefit most from an open dialogue about how these tools are being deployed on their matters and how in-house and external capabilities can be combined most effectively.