Methodology
Beyond the Horizon: Disputes Reimagined, a thought leadership study from Taylor Wessing combines two key research components: in-depth scenario planning and opinion-based insights from 700 senior business leaders and general counsel, collectively referred to throughout this document as 'business leaders'.
The scenario planning process
The in-depth scenario planning exercise was conducted between November 2024 and February 2025 in association with geopolitical analysis and advisory firm Oxford Analytica Limited, and thought leadership consultancy, Man Bites Dog Limited. It involved an extensive review of academic and open-source literature on legal disputes to identify key areas in which macro disruptions over the past decade have led to, or laid the ground for, future legal disputes centred on new issues: climate change, geopolitics, and technological innovation.
Building on this, analysts and subject-matter experts were asked to identify the five most impactful macro risks within their region or area of expertise between now and 2035. This produced a long list of risks, spanning all geographical regions of the world, as well as the domains of climate, the global economy, and technology. Risks were categorised by geographical region, STEEP category (society, technology, environment, economy, and politics), likelihood (five bands representing estimated probability), and impact (a five-point scale ranging from ‘limited’ to ‘civilisational’).
The risks on the long list were then filtered based on the following characteristics:
Those with only regional impact were screened out, retaining only those with transregional or global consequences.
Those in likelihood band 3 were retained (~50% likelihood), screening out bands 4 and 5 (so likely that audiences could consider them obvious or unsurprising), and bands 1 and 2 (so unlikely that audiences may dismiss them from serious consideration).
Those in impact band 3 (‘global’ impact) were retained, screening out bands 1 and 2 (‘limited’ and ‘wide-ranging’) as insufficiently impactful and bands 4 and 5 (‘historic’ and ‘civilisational’) as insufficiently plausible to many audiences.
The ‘social’ and purely ‘economic’ categories were screened out, retaining the ‘environmental’, ‘political’, and ‘technological’ categories, which encompass the three types of macro disruption identified in the literature review (climate change, geopolitics, and technological innovation).
Those with only regional impact were screened out, retaining only those with transregional or global consequences.
Those in likelihood band 3 were retained (~50% likelihood), screening out bands 4 and 5 (so likely that audiences could consider them obvious or unsurprising), and bands 1 and 2 (so unlikely that audiences may dismiss them from serious consideration).
Those in impact band 3 (‘global’ impact) were retained, screening out bands 1 and 2 (‘limited’ and ‘wide-ranging’) as insufficiently impactful and bands 4 and 5 (‘historic’ and ‘civilisational’) as insufficiently plausible to many audiences.
The ‘social’ and purely ‘economic’ categories were screened out, retaining the ‘environmental’, ‘political’, and ‘technological’ categories, which encompass the three types of macro disruption identified in the literature review (climate change, geopolitics, and technological innovation).
This process produced a shortlist of risks, from which two final scenarios likely to lead to a rise in legal disputes in the next 10 years were developed for this content series: Pervasive Protectionism and Activism Amplified. Taylor Wessing then drew on the expertise of their lawyers to develop a third scenario themselves: Healthcare Delivery Revolution.
Opinion research
The opinion research was conducted between March and April 2025 in association with global market research agency, Coleman Parkes Research Limited, and thought leadership consultancy, Man Bites Dog Limited.
It explored the wider disputes landscape, assessing whether organisations are underestimating the business and legal implications of the future risk scenarios identified, and examined the consequences of unpreparedness for businesses.
Participants included a balanced mix of chief executives, C-suite-level executives, senior executive officers, executive directors, and general counsel or heads of litigation. All participants represent organisations with annual revenues ranging from USD50 million to over USD10 billion.
Participating companies were drawn from four key industry sectors – life sciences and healthcare, technology, real estate, and energy and infrastructure – and six major markets: the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the US, and the Middle East.
The research was carried out under the ethical research guidelines set by both the Market Research Society (MRS) and the European Society for Opinion and Market Research (ESOMAR).
Beyond the Horizon: Disputes Reimagined