It is important that COMBAR responds to the questionnaire. As Andrew Smith J points out in his letter, responses can be sent to Mr Justice Flaux but they can also be sent to COMBAR (attention of Veronica Kendall) at admin@combar.com

Any responses to COMBAR will be reflected in a COMBAR response to the questionnaire. COMBAR is happy to receive individual or chambers’ responses. If you decide to pass your views through COMBAR could you please ensure that any response is given to us no later than 15 January 2009. All comments to go into the COMBAR response will be treated as anonymous unless you indicate otherwise.

Ali Malek QC

A check list has been prepared which identifies matters which the Judges will consider when managing cases during the trial period. It should assist parties and advisers to identify points that they should consider and be prepared for Judges to raise.

The Commercial Court Long Trials Working Party has today published its report. We should all be very grateful to the Chairman (Mr Justice Aikens) and the members of the Working Party for the massive amount of work that went into producing this important report. The proposals and recommendations are very interesting. They will be put into practice in the Commercial Court for a trial period from 1 July to end of November 2008. They will require a change of attitude in the way we deal with long and complex cases. I believe we should accept the challenge.

Click here for the statement by Mr Justice Andrew Smith.

Ali Malek QC
Chairman of COMBAR