The product of SIFoCC’s first international working group is available here.

This working group addressed Case Management in commercial litigation. The result is a set of working presumptions for best practice.

The working group was chaired by Chief Justice Allsop of the Federal Court of Australia and Sir Peter Gross, former Lord Justice of Appeal in the Court of Appeal of England & Wales, and who also held the position of Head of Judicial International Relations for England & Wales. The working group, which consisted of Judges from France, Gambia, USA, Singapore, Australia, Dubai, Malaysia and England & Wales, was assisted by a panel of consulting experts, also sourced from within the SIFoCC membership and ensuring further diversity and experience. The panel of consulting experts included judges from Uganda, Canada, Northern Ireland, China and the Cayman Islands.

The working presumptions, which have now been endorsed after consideration by the global network’s entire membership, provide a succinct approach to what constitutes best practice in Case Management. Individual courts can then use this to develop more particular approaches, rules or practice notes suitable for their individual requirements, situations, legislative contexts and circumstances.

Case Management is among the list of subjects explored in detail by the SIFoCC membership and has featured on the agenda for the two full meetings of its membership in London 2017 and New York 2018. The third meeting of SIFoCC, postponed by the pandemic, is due to take place in Singapore in March 2021 where the programme will include subjects such as arbitration, meeting the needs of court users and technology including AI.

The value of this document is anticipated to rise as the world’s Commercial Courts deal with the consequences of the COVID-19 global pandemic. It is hoped that it will assist as courts tackle the inevitable backlog that the pandemic will have caused.

Sir Peter Gross said “SIFoCC International Working Groups are an important method for sharing best practice and we hope that these presumptions will prove useful in these challenging times and beyond.”