In the keynote address to the Legal Week Trust & Estates Litigation Forum recently Lord Hoffman spoke about the need for the offshore jurisdictions to focus on the judicial infrastructure supporting their respective legal systems. He cited examples of certain mishaps – some of which have already been much commented on, others not so well known.
Few would dispute that such criticism as there has been of, for example, what occurred in the Thyssen case was justified. Neither could there be any doubt about the importance of a properly functioning judicial system in promoting a domicile as a place to conduct international business or in building a reputation for excellence. Boasting about the Privy Council being the ultimate court of appeal might be a good selling point in promoting an offshore jurisdiction, but would it not be better to be able to say that you will probably never need to go that far to obtain justice?
