The new Rolls Building will unite three major courts under one roof – but could also result in further integration as processes and administration converge. Malcolm Davis-White QC reports

Possibly one of the most significant – but unremarked upon – changes in the administration of justice in recent years has been the environment in which court proceedings take place. This has been the result of a large court building programme. Up and down the country, new courts have been built – though some would argue the programme is too little, too late. Either way, exciting new projects are underway, for a variety of reasons.

In Manchester the (delayed) opening of the new Manchester Civil Justice Centre is eagerly awaited. Originally anticipated to be completed in May 2007, at a cost of approximately £160m, this has been one of the largest court building projects undertaken for many years. In London, the decision to locate the new UK Supreme Court at the Middlesex Guildhall has necessitated a major planned renovation. Estimated set-up costs are approximately £56.9m. The building is expected to open for business in October 2009.

A further London project is the Rolls Building in Fetter Lane. In December 2006, Her Majesty's Courts Service (HMCS) announced the plans for its development for court purposes. The building previously on that site, now well on the way to demolition, was for many years occupied by accountancy firm Arthur Young. The estimated cost of the project is some £200m, with the courts anticipated to be operational by 2010.

The building will comprise some 260,000 sq ft. More than half of the eight storeys – some 145,000 sq ft, comprising parts of the basement, lower ground and first to fourth floors – will be let out on a 30-year government lease. The remaining 115,000 sq ft or so of office space on the fifth to eighth floors, with its own separate entrance, will be let independently. There is also provision for a self-contained user, such as a coffee shop.

The court part of the building will provide for courts, judges and administrative offices. The internal layout of this area is still being developed. It is currently envisaged that there will be some 29 courtrooms plus 12 hearing rooms (the latter for Registrars' hearings in the Companies and Bankruptcy Courts and for Chancery Masters' hearings), as well as public consultation rooms, waiting facilities, administrative office space and judges' rooms. It is understood that current plans allow for two 'super' courts, 12 large courts, 15 standard courts and 12 hearing rooms. The building will be state of the art, with full facilities available for the use of modern technology.

The Rolls Building is intended to house parts of the High Court currently located in the Royal Courts of Justice and/or St Dunstan's House. They are: the Chancery Division based in London; the Commercial Court (and Admiralty Court); and the London Technology & Construction Court (TCC). The totally inadequate conditions under which the Commercial Court and London TCC have had to operate for so many years – along with the lengthy campaign for it to be provided with adequate accommodation, combined with the use of the phrase 'business court' in early press releases – has concentrated attention on the Commercial Court. Yet there has been some confusion. The Rolls Building will in fact house three existing sets of courts, not some newly-created 'business court'. Nor will it be the new home solely of the Commercial Court. What, then, are these courts and what do they do?

The Chancery Division is one of the three divisions of the High Court. As well as its home in London, there are eight Chancery District Registries, where much important Chancery work is carried out. Of the 18 Chancery High Court judges, two are appointed as supervising judges in relation to the Chancery District Registries. In addition, specialist circuit judges sit at these centres, with authority to act as High Court judges. Further Chancery work is undertaken at County Court level (as is bankruptcy and company work). In London, the Chancery Division includes the Patent Court, the Companies Court and the Bankruptcy Court. In the Companies Court and Bankruptcy Court, there are available six registrars, who currently sit in rotation. They act as procedural judges and as first-instance judges, deciding many important matters of substance. The six Chancery masters fulfil a similar function to that of the registrars.

In larger cases, the Chancery judges act as their own procedural judge. The Division's quality and efficiency are renowned nationally and internationally. Unfortunately, the description 'Chancery' is not readily comprehensible to the general public. The Division's work is in fact extremely varied and complex, as well as being increasingly international, having evolved in step with changing business structures and transactions. As well as its specialist jurisdictions and its more traditional real property, trusts and estates work, the Division deals with commercial frauds, business disputes, financial regulatory work, partnerships and professional negligence.

The trust is at the heart of many modern investment and property holding and management structures, such as employee benefit trusts, pension funds and structured investment products and proceedings regarding such matters are frequently conducted in the Division. As to volume of work, the HMCS 2007-08 Business Plan from the Royal Courts of Justice Group discloses that three times more claims are issued in the Chancery Division than in the Commercial Court and London TCC combined. This figure does not take account of the company and insolvency applications issued in the Companies and Bankruptcy Courts.

The Commercial Court is part of the Queen's Bench Division. Its offices are combined with those of the Admiralty Court, with which it shares the 14 nominated Commercial Court judges (of who eight or so sit regularly dealing with commercial work) and most of its procedural rules.

There are no masters: the Commercial Court judges deal with all of the procedural aspects of the cases before them. The Commercial Court encompasses the London Mercantile Court (LMC) but otherwise has no connection with the various mercantile courts that have been established outside London, usually where there is also a Chancery District Registry and a TCC court centre. Apart from their Commercial Court duties, the nominated Commercial Court judges have other duties and often sit in other courts, including the Crown Court, presiding over serious criminal trials.

The Commercial Court deals with claims arising from transactions of trade and commerce including commercial agreements, export or import, carriage of goods, insurance and reinsurance, banking and financial services, markets and exchanges, commodities, construction, business agency and arbitration. The Admiralty Court has exclusive jurisdiction over certain maritime claims and co-extensive jurisdiction to that of the Commercial Court in respect of many claims under bills of lading or charter parties.

The TCC is a collection of different courts combined administratively. In London there are currently two High Court judges and five senior circuit judges. County Court TCC cases are dealt with at the Central London Civil Justice Centre (which is also a specialist Chancery centre). Outside London, there are various TCC centres where TCC claims are heard in the High Court or the County Court. The TCC deals primarily with litigation arising in the field of technology and construction. Such litigation includes traditional 'building' cases, engineering disputes, IT disputes and claims in relation to professional negligence, development, dilapidations, nuisance, and fire.

The proposals for the Rolls Building involve the housing of the entirety of the Chancery Division (High Court judges and offices) in London, the Commercial and Admiralty Court (but not the LMC) and the London TCC offices and High Court judges (but not the circuit judges).

The geographic proximity of the three court groupings in one building will almost inevitably bring the courts closer together in other ways. 'Cross-ticketing' of judges, so they can sit in other courts, is more common than it was (though perhaps not so common as outside London, where the resident Mercantile, Chancery and TCC judges frequently sit on a combined list of mercantile, TCC and Chancery cases). This feature is likely to grow. Practices and procedures may grow even closer. Administration is likely to unify over time. There may be room for rationalisation and partial amalgamation of the various different court guides.

Thought will need to be given to the best relationship between the courts in the Rolls Building and related specialist courts both outside and inside London (especially the Central London Civil Justice Centre and the LMC). Any plans to create a unified single civil court will need to take careful account of these specialist courts.

However, the jurisdictions of the three court groupings, though overlapping, are in part separate and distinct. The differences as well as the similarities must continue to be recognised so that the right judge hears each case, judicial specialisms are properly utilised and convenient rules and practices appropriate to one area are not sacrificed to some desire to impose a standard structure.

The international reputation of each of the courts is also very important. It must not be damaged by any hasty or ill-conceived reform. That said, the Rolls Building will be an important 21st-century step on the evolutionary road of the civil courts.

Malcolm Davis-White QC is a Committee member of the Chancery Bar Association (ChBA) and a barrister at 4 Stone Buildings. He is a ChBA representative on the HMCS stakeholders' committee regarding the Rolls Building.