June 22, 2026
Richard Hill KC and Gregory Denton-Cox continue to act for Glencore plc and Sharif Shivji KC leads the Stewarts Claimant team in this ongoing securities litigation, one of The Lawyer’s top 20 cases for 2026.
Following a hearing held in private at the end of April 2026, the first trial in these proceedings, which had been due to commence in October 2026, has been adjourned to take place in October 2028, following the expected conclusion of related criminal proceedings brought by the SFO against certain individuals not party to the civil claim. A public judgment has now been released (Aabar Holdings Sarl & Ors v Glencore Plc [2026] EWHC 1328 (Comm)).
Mr Justice Butcher considered the principles applicable to the management of concurrent criminal and civil proceedings. He concluded that going ahead with the first trial, even with safeguards in place to protect the integrity of the criminal proceedings, would be inconvenient and difficult to manage, would involve a derogation from open justice, and would in any event not eliminate the risk that material could come into the public domain which prejudiced the criminal trial. It would also require the court to refuse to grant witness summonses sought in respect of certain individuals (so that they were not required to give evidence prior to the criminal proceedings), which would be prejudicial to the Defendants to the civil proceedings.
The judgment shows that whilst the adjournment of a fixed trial date is “almost always undesirable and something which the court will not order lightly”, there may be circumstances where it is (as the Judge held) the course that best serves the interests of justice.
Following the adjournment decision, the Claimants have separately obtained permission to appeal against Mr Justice Picken’s judgment holding that legal advice privilege applies not only to communications between lawyers and members of the “client group” (as held in Three Rivers (No. 5) [2003] QB 1556), but also to internal communications between, or created by, members of the client group for the dominant purpose of seeking legal advice (Aabar Holdings Sarl & Ors v Glencore Plc [2026] EWHC 877 (Comm)). There will therefore now be an opportunity for that decision to be considered by the Court of Appeal.
Read the judgment.
