In a Practice Note published this week, Mrs Justice Cockerill, Judge in charge of the Commercial Court, raised concerns about inadequate time estimates, particularly in longer applications and trials, and their effect on the conduct of hearings in the Commercial Court.
Cockerill J wrote: ‘In September 2020 HHJ Pelling QC and I raised concerns about the noticeable increase in the number of applications and trials for which inaccurate reading and hearing time estimates have been provided.
‘That Notice focussed particularly on the issue of half day hearings and it is fair to say that the Court has seen some improvement in relation to these shorter hearings. However, a considerable issue remains as regards longer applications and trials. In particular, the number of points and authorities being sought to be raised is often―and increasingly―completely out of step with the hearing time listed.
‘The result is that on a number of occasions counsel have either taken submissions at excessive speed… where experienced transcribers were unable to keep up with the pace of speech… or have sought to conduct legal argument by giving the judge a note of key passages in authorities which they would wish the judge to read and consider in depth after the completion of the hearing. These practices are unacceptable.’
Consequently, cases may be stood out either before the hearing or part heard and relisted with a more realistic time estimate.
For this, there may ‘also be costs consequences’, she warned.
Cockerill J also urged parties to carefully consider the number of points they run, ‘whether peripheral points will realistically lead anywhere if the primary points fail and which legal arguments are realistically open for argument at first instance’.
Read the PD here.
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