The former head of the Commercial Court has warned against complacency in the face of a challenge from rival overseas courts looking to usurp the UK's status as a centre for dispute resolution.

He was speaking earlier today (6 November) at Legal Week's Commercial Litigation and Arbitration Forum, at which he gave the opening keynote speech on the future challenges facing the Commercial Court.

"There is a challenge and we shouldn't be complacent," he said. "But my own sense is that the Singapore and Middle Eastern courts have not so far gained the traction some people feared they might.

"As for the new cadre of English-speaking courts being set up in Holland, Frankfurt and Paris, it won't be easy for them to replicate what we have here; partly because of their career judge structure, and partly because they don't have [the] huge legal services expertise that we have here, which enables the Commercial Court to function as well as it does.

"It would be going too far to say I am sanguine about that competition, but I am not unduly alarmed."

Popplewell – who was succeeded as the Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court by Mr Justice Teare on 1 October – also discussed the need for more independent performance feedback for judges, as well as the question of whether the abolishment of indemnity costs would contribute to improved access to justice.

Other panel discussions at the forum – which took place at London's Waldorf Hilton – included a session on disclosure and another on the issue of legal privilege, which was especially well received given the recent legal privilege verdict on the Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation case against the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), in which the Court of Appeal ruled against the SFO.

The event is being co-chaired by former Commercial Court judge Sir William Blair of 3 Verulam Buildings and Vodafone senior solicitor Clare Lynch.