The Court of Appeal is set to receive five new justices this year, following Lord Wilson's move to the Supreme Court and Lord Justice Thomas' appointment as president of the Queen's Bench Division.

The remaining three spots have opened up following the retirements of Lady Justice Smith, Lord Justice Sedley and Lord Justice Jacob.

The new appointments will see Dame Anne Rafferty, Sir Andrew McFarlane, Sir Nigel Davis, Sir Kim Lewison and Sir David Kitchin all become justices of the Court of Appeal between now and October this year.

All five candidates were approved by the Queen and will join the Court of Appeal after several years in the High Court.

The news follows the controversial appointment of Brick Court Chambers' Jonathan Sumption QC to the Supreme Court alongside Wilson in May this year.

Sumption's appointment makes him the first barrister to be directly appointed to the UK's highest court in more than 60 years.

Meanwhile, figures released last week by the Judicial Court show that the number of commercial litigation cases brought to the High Court dropped by nearly a third between 2009 and 2010. In total there were 47,884 cases launched in 2010, down from 68,084 in 2009.

For more, see Has Sumption jumped the queue or is he simply the best man for the job?