Welcome to the 2018 edition of Getting the Deal Through – Dispute Resolution. It gives us great pleasure to act as contributing editors of this publication (and co-authors of the England & Wales chapter) together with experts from numerous other jurisdictions.

The legal industry’s evolution remains inextricably linked to the external factors surrounding it. Developments over the last year, as with recent years before it, have taken place against a backdrop of continued technological advancement and a degree of political uncertainty across the world. From the turn of the century, digitalisation has had a tremendous impact in virtually all professional fields. Its impact seems to proliferate year on year, and 2017 was no different. The legal industry, often associated with rich history and time honoured traditions, has had to find a way to keep pace with technological advances.