The procedural rules governing appeals to the Court of Appeal are to be amended and restructured with effect from 3 October 2016.  Key changes include: Removing the automatic right to an oral hearing when renewing an unsuccessful application for permission… Read more

Lord Justice Briggs's final report in his review of the future of the civil courts structure was published last week. Key recommendations relevant to commercial parties include: establishing an Online Court, initially for money claims up to £25,000 a substantial increase… Read more

The Supreme Court has confirmed that, subject to one qualification, the English courts should never follow a decision of the Privy Council if it is inconsistent with a decision that would otherwise be binding on the lower court: Willers v… Read more

The recent decision in Property Alliance Group Limited v Royal Bank of Scotland plc [2016] EWHC 207 (Ch) provides helpful early guidance as to the court’s approach to contested applications to transfer proceedings to the newly created Financial List. While… Read more

A recent High Court decision has confirmed the court's jurisdiction to transfer cases into the Shorter Trials Scheme, a streamlined procedure which aims to progress a case through to judgment within about a year of issuing proceedings: Family Mosaic Home Ownership… Read more

Lord Justice Briggs's interim report in his review of the future of the civil courts structure was published yesterday, 12 January 2016. Key aspects include: Urgent measures are needed to address the current overload in the Court of Appeal, where a 54% increase in… Read more

The government has today published its response to its recent consultation on further court fee increases. The good news for court users is that it has decided not to proceed with plans to increase the cap on fees to issue… Read more

A new specialist Financial List is to be introduced in the High Court from 1 October. It will deal with financial markets claims for more than £50 million, or which require particular expertise in the financial markets, or which raise issues of general importance… Read more

Two pilot schemes, the Shorter Trials Scheme and the Flexible Trials Scheme, will be introduced for claims commenced from 1 October and will run for a period of two years. The schemes allow for shorter and more flexible procedures for claims brought… Read more

Less than four months after the last round of fee increases for civil claims (see post), the government has today opened a consultation on further significant increases which, if implemented, would (at least) double the cost of issuing money claims above £400,000,… Read more

Following approval of the relevant draft legislation by the House of Lords this evening, it is expected that the government's planned increases to civil court fees will take effect on Monday 9 March. As reported in our previous post, the new fees to issue money… Read more

The government announced on Friday that it will go ahead with its proposal to introduce percentage issue fees for money claims over £10,000, calculated as 5% of the value of the claim subject to a cap of £10,000 (see our post summarising the proposals put forward… Read more

The courts service announced earlier this week that a contractor has been appointed to deliver an electronic filing system for the Rolls Building jurisdictions, including the Commercial Court, Technology and Construction Court and Chancery Division. The new system will allow: … Read more

From today, the previous system of some 170 separate county courts for different geographical areas has been replaced by a single national entity with a national jurisdiction for civil cases in England and Wales, known as the County Court. This… Read more

A review of current practices and procedures for the conduct of business in the Chancery Division, known as the "Chancery Modernisation Review", has been undertaken over the past year led by Lord Justice Briggs. The final report was published on… Read more

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has issued a consultation proposing substantial court fee increases. For certain types of proceedings, these include "enhanced" fees aimed at recovering more than the cost of running the services to which they relate. The key proposals include: Introducing percentage issue fees for money… Read more

The Master of the Rolls, Lord Dyson, has designated five members of the Court of Appeal to hear appeals arising from the Jackson reforms. This implements Lord Justice Jackson's recommendation that particular Court of Appeal judges should be designated to… Read more

The Supreme Court has today announced the appointment of three new justices, or one quarter of the 12-member Court: Lord Justice Hughes, Lord Justice Toulson and Lord Hodge. They will succeed Lord Dyson, who became Master of the Rolls in October 2012,… Read more

The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) has ruled that in-house lawyers cannot represent their client companies in proceedings before the EU courts (i.e. the ECJ and the General Court, previously known as the Court of First Instance):… Read more

Lord Dyson has been appointed as the next Master of the Rolls, with effect from 1 October. He will succeed Lord Neuberger, who is to become the new President of the Supreme Court from the same date when Lord Phillips… Read more

The Ministry of Justice has published its Judicial and Court Statistics for 2011. These show an increase in claims in the Commercial Court and Technology and Construction Court, reverting to 2009 levels after a fall in 2010, but a slight… Read more

One of Lord Justice Jackson's recommendations, in his January 2010 report on civil litigation costs (see our summary of the key recommendations here), was that cases should be assigned wherever possible to designated judges who have relevant expertise and, so far as… Read more

The government response has been published to its consultation on "Solving disputes in the County Courts: creating a simpler, quicker and more proportionate system", which asked for views on compulsory mediation information sessions, automatic referral to mediation, and extension of… Read more

The Supreme Court has today announced the appointment of two new justices, Lord Reed and Lord Justice Carnwath CVO. The two appointments follow the death of Lord Rodger in June 2011 and the forthcoming retirement of Lord Brown in April… Read more

On 14 December the Lord Chief Justice issued practice guidance on the use of live text-based forms of communication (including twitter) from court for the purposes of fair and accurate reporting. The guidance applies to proceedings which are open to the… Read more

London's new business court, the Rolls Building, opened its doors in October, bringing under one roof the business related divisions of the High Court (the Admiralty and Commercial Court, the Technology and Construction Court and the Chancery Division).  The new… Read more

Earlier this week the President of the Supreme Court announced that advocates appearing before the court (or the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council) may do away with any or all elements of traditional court dress, if all advocates agree.… Read more

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has issued a Consultation Paper on court fees in which it proposes substantial increases to issue fees for higher value claims and the introduction of time-related hearing fees in the High Court and Court of… Read more

The Ministry of Justice has recently published its Judicial and Court Statistics for 2010. These show a drop in High Court claims issued in the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as well as nationally. ... Read more

The new business court, the Rolls Building, is on track to open for business from October, bringing the Admiralty and Commercial Court, the Technology and Construction Court and the Chancery Division (including the Bankruptcy and Companies Courts) under one roof… Read more