The UK's top judges are to be appraised by court users, with litigators taking the matter into their own hands after plans for non-peer reviews were rejected by the judiciary.

The Commercial Litigators Forum (CLF) is pushing ahead with proposals that will see judges subjected to upward reviews, even though the suggestions were snubbed by a working group set up by the Judges Council and overseen by Commercial Court head Mr Justice Andrew Smith earlier this year.

The CLF has formed a sub-committee within the last month to come up with a framework for the appraisals, with members including litigation partners Hilton Mervis (pictured) of SJ Berwin, Lovells' Neil Fagan, Herbert Smith's Tim Parkes, Simon Willis of Mayer Brown and John Reynolds of White & Case.

The appraisal system, which will be set up from 2009, could see the committee receiving anonymous feedback forms from users at the end of each court term detailing how individual judges have handled cases. The reviews will then be compiled into an annual report.

The feedback form is likely to cover whether the appraising party lost the relevant application or trial.

Details to be decided in the new year include issues such as who should receive the report and whether generic conclusions could be drawn for public use.

Mervis said: "This is a move to combine positive feedback to the judiciary on case management matters which have worked, together with feedback on aspects that can be improved."