Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System

It used to be the case that the work of the Commercial Court and the Admiralty Court (now constituent parts of the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales) was the subject of an Annual Report. But there has been no such report for a number of years.

The lead judge of the Court, Mr Justice Teare, has now decided that the practice of providing Annual Reports should be revived. In February 2019, the first of the new series of reports, covering the year April 2017-March 2018, was published.

Although the number of cases coming before both the Commercial and Admiralty Courts is not that high, the value of these cases are often substantial. And a high percentage of the cases involve issues which have arising outside the UK. This reflects the fact that London is seen in many jurisdictions as the place where commercial disputes can and should be resolved – in turn reflecting the expertise of the major law firms based in London.

The report is available at https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/6.5310_Commercial-Courts-Annual-Report_v3.pdf