Pre-trial applications are heard by the commercial judge

One of the main differences between the Commercial Court and the remainder of the High Court, with the exception to some extent of the Admiralty Court, is that in the Commercial Court all interim and other pre-trial applications are heard by the commercial judge. The masters of the Queen’s Bench Division, although they deal with questions of enforcement and assessment of damages after judgment, play no role in the pre-trial work. Thus, paragraph 1.2 of the Practice Direction supplementing CPR Part 58 provides: