Litigation, reputation and the court of public opinion: Maltin PR provides insights for Solomonic’s 2025 Year in Review

Maltin PR recently provided litigation insights for the Solomonic Year in Review 2025, an annual report examining trends across commercial litigation in the High Court of England and Wales and the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

Now in its fifth edition, Solomonic’s report draws on extensive court data and practitioner commentary to analyse how disputes are evolving across sectors, courts and legal markets. The 2025 edition highlights a busy year for English litigation, with High Court claim volumes rising 7% year on year to 8,271 claims, reflecting continued global reliance on London as a forum for complex disputes.

Alongside analysis of claim volumes, sectors and major cases, the report explores several emerging themes shaping the litigation landscape, including technology disputes, securities litigation, fraud claims and the role of litigation funding.

The growing importance of reputation management in disputes

Our Managing Partner Tim Maltin and Partner James Lynch contributed expert commentary to the report’s section on reputation management and litigation communications, examining how disputes increasingly play out across both courts and the public domain.

As the report notes, modern litigation rarely unfolds solely inside the courtroom. Media coverage, digital platforms and searchable court documents mean that disputes often develop parallel narratives in the public sphere. With the courts expanding transparency initiatives and journalists gaining easier access to filings and evidence, reputational considerations can arise well before judgment is delivered.

In this environment, early communications strategy is becoming an essential part of dispute preparation. Claimants may use media attention to build momentum around a claim, while defendants must be prepared to respond quickly to avoid damaging narratives taking hold.

The report also highlights the growing challenge of coordinated misinformation campaigns, which can emerge alongside legitimate reporting and seek to influence perceptions of a case outside the legal process.

Litigation communications as part of legal strategy

Our contribution emphasises that litigation communications should be considered from the outset of a dispute, alongside legal strategy. When handled effectively, communications planning can:

• manage reputational risk during proceedings
• provide context to complex legal arguments in public reporting
• counter misinformation or speculative commentary
• maintain stakeholder confidence throughout lengthy litigation

As disputes become increasingly international and high profile, organisations must manage legal, reputational and political risk simultaneously.

A changing litigation environment

Across the wider report, Solomonic identifies several trends shaping the disputes market, including:

• growth in public sector litigation and probate disputes
• continued prominence of financial sector claims
• increasing technology related disputes linked to cyber incidents and AI
• ongoing large scale group actions and ESG litigation

These developments reflect the increasing complexity of commercial disputes and the range of stakeholders affected by major litigation.

The full report can be found here.