The new Business and Property Courts launched in Birmingham today.
“Welcome to the Birmingham Civil Justice Centre. We are delighted to be marking the launch of the Business and Property Courts in Birmingham. These new courts will combine the strengths of the Chancery Division in Birmingham with those of the specialist courts of the Queen’s Bench Division,namely the Technology and Construction Court and the Circuit Commercial Court (formerly the Mercantile Court), and will introduce flexible listing and modern procedures.
These new courts will aim to meet three objectives: (1) ensuring that each case is managed to deliver progress to trial without delay, (2) trial by the most appropriate judge (whether a member of the resident specialist judiciary or a High Court Judge), and (3) the provision of an efficient and effective service utilising modern technology to best advantage.
This innovation has been the result of the combined efforts of the HMCTS Birmingham, Regional and High Court teams, the local specialist judges and the Circuit and District Bench, who have been working hard for a year on an implementation plan to convert the vision to a reality. We pay tribute to their exceptional teamwork and enthusiasm throughout the project. Invaluable support has also been received from the Midland business community, led by the High Sheriffs for the West Midlands, from the Midland Chancery and Commercial Bar Association, and from the Birmingham Law Society and senior commercial litigators.”
