Justice Venning says the expansion will provide the necessary flexibility in the panel’s schedule
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Justice Geoffrey Venning has announced that the High Court’s commercial panel has expanded, with six more judges joining the group.
The announcement by the chief judge of the High Court came after a review of the panel’s operation 18 months after it commenced operation.
“An important feature of the commercial panel is that, barring exceptional circumstances, the assigned judge will hear the substantive fixture as well as case manage the file,” the chief judge said. “To provide the necessary flexibility in the schedule to achieve that aim, I have reviewed the membership of the commercial panel and assigned a further six judges to it under s 19(4) of the [Senior Courts Act 2016].”
Justices Simon France, Rebecca Ellis, Mary Peters, Susan Thomas, Sally Fitzgerald and Pherose Jagose are the new members of the panel. Justices Venning, Graham Lang, Jillian Mallon, Robert Dobson QC, Edwin Wylie, Sarah Katz, and Matthew Muir complete the group.
The appointments to the panel last for three years, with panel judges continuing to carry out the full range of High Court work, which includes other civil work, criminal work, and appeals, in addition to assigned cases.
Appointments will next be reviewed in September 2020.
