A £300m high-tech law court complex will unlock in the subsequent few weeks as the government tries to make the UK the world's most excellent destination for swiftly resolving worldwide high-value legal disputes and making a lot of money in the process.
The curvilinear,11-storey Rolls Building in Fetter Lane, close to the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, will comprise 31 courts, including three super-courts configured to include big, multiparty disputes.
The advertising of the Rolls Building, and British justice on the whole, to a worldwide business audience has already commenced, the Queen is being lined up for the building's inauguration ceremony, and the court's avant-garde electronic filing system, which is intended to make it mostly paperless, is being tested.
It is hoped from October that the Rolls Building will turn out to be the new home of the chancery division of the high court, the admiralty and commercial court, in addition to the technology and construction court. The government hopes it will draw high-profile business disputes from across the world, such as disputes over pipelines and property ventures, contested insurance payouts as well as environmental pollution claims.
