UK · EU · US · InternationalEnglish law or US law in your contract? How to choose
Short answer: choose the law you can enforce a result under, not the law you feel most comfortable with. For transatlantic deals that usually points at arbitration, whichever substantive law you pick.
Two separate choices, routinely confused
Governing law decides which country's rules interpret the contract. Jurisdiction decides where a dispute is heard. They can differ, and the second matters more than most parties realise, because a right you cannot enforce is a right you do not have.
What choosing English law gets you
English contract law gives considerable weight to what the parties actually wrote. Commercial certainty is the design goal, implied terms are limited, and the volume of decided cases means most drafting questions have a documented answer. That predictability is why English law is one of the most widely chosen governing laws for international commercial contracts even where neither party is English.
Why enforcement should drive the decision
A judgment from an English court is not automatically enforceable in the United States. Recognition is handled state by state under each state's own recognition legislation, which means a further proceeding, further cost and further uncertainty. The reverse is true for a US judgment in England, covered in this guide.
An arbitral award is different. Both the United Kingdom and the United States are parties to the New York Convention, so an award made in one is enforceable in the other on a well trodden route. That single fact is why arbitration clauses appear in transatlantic contracts far more often than in domestic ones.
A practical way to decide
Ask where the counterparty's assets are and work backwards. If you would need to enforce in the United States, an arbitration clause with a seat you both accept beats an exclusive English court clause. If the counterparty holds assets in England, an English court clause is straightforward. If assets sit in a third country, arbitration is almost always the answer.
What we do with this
We draft English law agreements with the dispute clause chosen deliberately: seat, rules, number of arbitrators, language, and how it interacts with any interim relief you might need. It is the clause that decides whether the rest of the contract is worth anything on the day it matters.
Common questions
Is English law better than US law?
Neither is better in the abstract. English law is highly predictable and widely accepted as neutral ground between parties from different countries. The question that should decide it is where you would need to enforce a result.
Can we choose English law but litigate in the US?
You can, and a US court will apply English law as a question of fact with expert evidence. It adds cost and risk. Most parties who want English law also choose an English seat or arbitration.
Why arbitration rather than courts?
Because a New York Convention award travels between the UK and the US on an established route, while a court judgment has to be recognised state by state.
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