- with Finance and Tax Executives
- with readers working within the Property and Transport industries
The Commercial Court Report 2024-2025 was published on 25 March 2026, giving a detailed overview of the work of the court. In his introduction, Mr Justice Henshaw, Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court, noted that it had been another busy year, with over a thousand new claims issued across the Commercial Court, Admiralty Court and the London Circuit Commercial Court (LCCC), several particularly long trials taking place and arbitration accounting for around 30% of claims issued.
The work of the Commercial Court
The court's caseload remained highly international, with international cases accounting for about 75% of the court's business overall (a similar level to previous years).
609 new claims were issued in the Commercial Court. This was a decrease from the 743 issued in 2023-24. However, claims in the LCCC increased from 339 to 432. These changes reflect efforts to ensure that cases are allocated to the most appropriate forum by value and subject matter, and in particular a Practice Note issued in June 2025 which increased the general lower limit for claim values to £7 million in the Commercial Court and £1 million in the LCCC.
Claims categorised as "general commercial contracts and arrangements", comprising a wide range of business disputes, represented 22% of new claims. The number of new insurance and reinsurance claims dropped significantly, comprising only 5% of new claims, with the report suggesting that the surge in claims following the pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine was now over.
Financial List
The Financial List is a specialist list for financial claims exceeding £50 million, or cases that raise issues concerning the domestic and international finance markets. 22 new claims were issued in 2024-25, a 22% increase from 2023-2024 (18 claims issued) but still below the levels seen in 2022-2023 (36 claims) and 2021-2022 (40 claims).
Arbitration
Arbitration-related claims amounted to about 30% of claims issued, reflecting London's continued status as a leading arbitration centre. Compared to previous years, there was an increase in challenges to awards, with the success rate remaining low. For more information and an analysis of the applications made, see this post on our International Arbitration blog.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
[View Source]
