The Mercantile Court

Mercantile Courts were established during the 1990's. Their purpose is to provide a modern accessible and efficient specialist court service around the country to citizens, businesses and companies involved in commercial transactions and disputes

They are regional courts of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court with specialist judges sitting in main city centres. They deal with all kinds of business disputes in a broad sense that would benefit from the expertise of a mercantile judge.

Mercantile Courts are now established in the following cities:

• Birmingham
• Bristol
• Cardiff
• Chester
• Leeds
• Liverpool
• London
• Manchester
• Mold
• Newcastle

These pages provide information on these courts and how to use them. It also provides links to other helpful court information as well as links to the essential civil procedure rules and practice directions that are always followed by these courts.

There are also links to useful specimen forms that can be adapted for use and to guides that can be followed.

In addition there is a Walkthrough Guide with underlying links to the rules and practice directions to be followed.

Whilst this information seeks to facilitate access to the courts and provide simplification of its procedures, users need to be well aware that claims before these specialist courts are often legally and/or factually complex and therefore potentially very expensive in terms of legal costs. It would be prudent for all users to consult a lawyer competent in mercantile matters before engaging (whether as a claimant or as a defendant) in litigation in mercantile courts and considering how to best to proceed (with or without lawyers).