The Chief High Court Judge, Justice Venning, says he has reviewed the membership of the commercial panel of the HIgh Court and assigned a further six judges to it.

The commercial panel of the High Court was established under section 19 of the Senior Courts Act 2016 and the Senior Courts (High Court Commercial Panel) Order 2017. It has been in operation since 1 September 2017.

Justice Venning says he reviewed the panel's operation after 18 months.

"An important feature of the commercial panel is that, barring exceptional circumstances, the assigned judge will hear the substantive fixture as well as case manage the file," he says.

"To provide the necessary flexibility in the schedule to achieve that aim, I have reviewed the membership of the commercial panel and assigned a further six judges to it under section 19(4) of the Act."

The judges are Justices Simon France, Ellis, Peters, Thomas, Fitzgerald and Jagose.

All appointments are for three years. Panel judges continue to carry out the full range of High Court work (other civil work, criminal work and appeals) in addition to their assigned cases.

The full list of judges currently assigned to the commercial panel is Justices Venning, France, Lang, Mallon, Dobson, Wylie, Ellis, Peters, Katz, Thomas, Muir, Fitzgerald and Jagose.

Justice Venning says the next review of appointments will be in September 2020.