New Commercial List in the Auckland High Court

Introduction

A new Commercial List in the Auckland High Court (the Commercial List) is expected to come into operation in October 2025.  The decision was announced on 13 June 2025 by Justice Fitzgerald following consultation with a working group made up of senior members of the legal profession.

Modelled on the New South Wales Supreme Court’s Commercial List, the purposes of the Commercial List are:

• to achieve better efficiencies and quicker hearing times,
• to ensure parties, counsel and commercially experienced judges are working together so that matters are agreed to wherever possible, and
• to ensure disputed interlocutory and substantive issues are dealt with in a focused and expeditious manner.

The current draft Commercial List Practice Note can be found here.

Criteria to enter Commercial List

The following types of proceeding will qualify for entry onto the list:

• a commercial dispute between parties engaged in trade or commerce where the value of the claim is not less than $1 million,
• applications under the Arbitration Act 1996 where the sum at issue is not less than $1 million,
• appeals from or applications for judicial review of regulatory decisions affecting domestic or international commerce,
• proceedings brought by public authorities to enforce regulatory standards of commercial behaviour,
• proceedings involving the amalgamation of companies, mergers, takeovers, or corporate insolvency where the public interest or complexity warrants determination by a panel Judge and
• claims or disputes arising out of or relating to intellectual property rights.

A party may request that a civil proceeding be placed on the Commercial List at the time of filing. The party may do so by drafting and filing a memorandum which outlines reasons for entering the list such as that the proceeding meets one of the criteria for entry listed above.

Similarly, a defendant may oppose entry of the proceeding onto the Commercial List by filing a memorandum containing supporting reasons.  Any disputed entry onto the Commercial List will be determined by a Commercial List Judge on the papers.

The Court also maintains the right to add a proceeding onto the Commercial List on it’s own motion if the Commercial List Judge determines that its commercial character is suitable and of sufficient private or public importance to be placed on the list.

A proceeding may be removed from the Commercial List if it does not qualify under any of the types listed above or if a Commercial List Judge determines it is not suitable for the Commercial List for reasons which may include:

• one or more parties are unrepresented,
• the proceeding includes material non-commercial aspects, or
• the nature or complexity of the proceeding is better suited to different case management.

Procedure

The Commercial List will be administered in Court every Friday.  A callover of interlocutory applications will be held at 9:15am where the Judge will ascertain whether the application is ready to be heard and, if so, the Judge will allocate a time for hearing on that same day or some other day.  Interlocutory application hearings will generally be no more than one hour, and it is expected that many hearings will result in the issues being resolved by agreement or at least narrowed significantly.  All matters for directions will be listed for hearing at 10am.

Counsel will be expected to appear in-person at the hearing of any application.  However, if necessary, remote attendance may also be arranged through the Commercial List case officer.

Two dedicated Commercial List Judges will manage the cases on the Commercial List.  The Judges will be drawn from the Commercial Panel and will be assigned by the Chief High Court Judge with the concurrence of the Chief Justice.

To ensure civil proceedings are focused and expeditious, applications (including to strike out, for summary judgment, and in respect of discovery) will be discouraged, unless consistent with the overriding objective of the High Court Rules 2016 in the resolution of Commercial List proceedings.

Conclusion

The fast-tracked approach to the Commercial List is expected to speed up appropriate proceedings and avoid delays and high costs often associated with High Court litigation.  The introduction of the Commercial List accompanies the comprehensive amendments being made to the High Court Rules 2016 which are set to take effect from early 2026.  These developments to civil and commercial litigation reflects the concerted efforts by the judiciary and legal profession to ensure greater access to justice for litigants.  Harkness Henry welcomes these developments and invites anyone who wishes to discuss the potential impacts of these changes on existing or future commercial litigation to please contact one of our litigation experts.

This article is current as at the date of publication and is only intended to provide general comments about the law. Harkness Henry accepts no responsibility for reliance by any person or organisation on the content of the article. Please contact the author of the article if you require specific advice about how the law applies to you.