Business courts

Business Courts, sometimes referred to as Commercial Courts, are trial courts that primarily or exclusively adjudicate internal business disputes and/or commercial litigation between businesses, heard before specialist judges assigned to these courts. Commercial Courts outside the United States may have broader or narrower jurisdiction than state trial level business and commercial courts within the United States, for example patent or admiralty jurisdiction; and jurisdiction may vary between countries.

Business and Commercial Courts in the United States

Business courts in the United States have been established in approximately twenty-five states. In some cases, a state legislature may choose to create a business court by statute. In other cases, business courts have been established by judicial rule or order, at the state supreme court or trial court level. Georgia created a statewide business court by constitutional amendment.

Types of jurisdictional models

In virtually all cases, the jurisdiction of the court to hear certain cases is limited to disputes that are in some way related to "business" or commercial disputes, and generally fall into two categories: (1) those courts which require that cases have an additional complexity component; and (2) those courts which establish jurisdictional parameters (i) through a defined list of case types (ii) combined with a specified minimum amount of damages in controversy, irrespective of complexity.

In New York, for example, the trial level Supreme Court Commercial Division follows the case type and jurisdictional amount in controversy model, giving jurisdiction over 12 listed business and commercial case categories while setting out monetary thresholds ranging from $50,000 in some counties to $500,000 in Manhattan. The Massachusetts Superior Court's Business Litigation Session (BLS) includes a jurisdictional list of case types, but instead of focusing on monetary thresholds as a gatekeeping mechanism, cases are included only where "the BLS in the sound discretion of the BLS Administrative Justice, based principally on the complexity of the case and the need for substantial case management," selects a case for inclusion.

There are mixed models as well, with some mandatory case type categories specifically listed, and other discretionary types requiring an element of complexity. The Maryland Circuit Court's Business and Technology Case Management Program includes certain "presumptive" mandatory case types, while others categories require a judge to more subjectively determine if they are complex enough to include on the docket. North Carolina's Business Court has a similar mixed model that makes jurisdiction mandatory if the listed commercial case type is over $5,000,000, but discretionary if under, as well as a seldom used rule allowing judicial discretion.

History of business and commercial court creation and development

The modern creation of specialized Business Courts in the United States began in the early 1990s, and has expanded greatly in the last thirty years. Business courts (which are often business programs or divisions within existing trial level courts) are operating in New York County/Manhattan, and 10 other jurisdictions throughout New York State as the New York Supreme Court Commercial Division, Chicago, North Carolina, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland, Orlando, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and Tampa, Florida, Michigan, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio, Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire, Metro Atlanta regionally and Georgia State-wide Business Court statewide, Delaware's Superior Court and Court of Chancery, Nashville, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Indiana, Phoenix, Arizona, Kentucky, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Wyoming. This map shows states having business courts either statewide, in multiple counties or cities, or within a single major city or county, which is accurate through April 2023.

In 2023, Utah adopted legislation creating a statewide Business and Chancery Court, which will become operational no earlier than October 1, 2024. On June 9, 2023, Texas' governor signed an Act into law creating a Business Court. The new law became effective in September 2023, but the Business Court will not be open for cases until September 2024 at the earliest.

Delaware's Court of Chancery, the pre-eminent court addressing intra-business disputes, has functioned as a business court of limited jurisdiction for a century. However, its traditional equity jurisdiction has evolved and expanded since 2003 to include technology disputes (10 Del. C. § 346), some purely monetary commercial disputes (10 Del. C. § 347), and to expand its role in the alternative dispute resolution of business and commercial disputes. This includes the use of mediation (10 Del. C. § 347), Masters in Chancery to adjudicate matters (10 Del. C. § 350), and agreements to make decisions non-appealable (10 Del. C. § 351).

Other states have a mixed history. In New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina, and New Jersey, among other states with business courts, the original programs have expanded by adding judges and/or by expanding into additional cities and counties. Around 2000, Colorado's Supreme Court studied a business court, but did not pursue it, and the Denver District Court later experimented for three years with a business court, known as the Civil Access Pilot Project. Orlando's business court was restored in October 2019, after an earlier funding shortage. In 2015, New Jersey's Supreme Court created a statewide Complex Business Litigation Program after having only a few counties with business courts before that. In 2009, Milwaukee's Circuit Court ended a little used business court program, but Wisconsin's Supreme Court implemented a business court pilot program in 2017 which has expanded to a number of circuit courts and judicial districts. Oklahoma Statute §20-91.7 (2004) authorizes the Oklahoma's Supreme Court to create business court divisions in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, but it has not; however, in May 2024, Oklahoma enacted a law creating a task force to study business courts. The Hamilton County, Ohio Court of Common Pleas discontinued its Commercial Docket in 2017, but revived it in 2024.

U.S. complex civil litigation dockets and complex business/commercial cases

California, Connecticut, Oregon, and Minnesota courts have created specialized dockets for complex litigation within their civil trial courts, tying specialization to process and case management rather than legal subject matter. Minnesota's General Rules of Practice provide an example of this focus on the numbers of witnesses and parties, need for experts, and legally complex issues. California's complex litigation programs are not statewide, but includes at least the following Superior Courts: Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara.

These programs can include sufficiently complex business and commercial disputes among a broader range of case types. There is a sufficient relationship between these specialized complex litigation dockets and business courts that, for example, former Orange County Complex Litigation Program Judge Gail A. Andler is a past president of the American College of Business Court Judges (ACBCJ), and a number of California's complex litigation judges (including Judge Elihu Berle), and Minnesota complex litigation Judge Jerome Abrams, have served as Business Court Representatives to the American Bar Association's Section of Business Law. Judge Abrams is a 2023-2024 Vice President of the ACBCJ. Judge Berle is also a current officer of the ACBCJ (as of May 2024), has spoken at its judicial education programs, and participated in its first meeting in 2005.

International Business and Commercial Courts

Business and Commercial Courts exist internationally as well, including, for example, in England and Wales, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, and Alberta, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Belgium, Bermuda, Queensland and Victoria, Australia, New Zealand (Commercial Panel), Northern Ireland, Qatar, Dubai, Spain, inFrance (where the commercial courts are not divisions of other civil courts, but are autonomous), Switzerland, Austria,Tanzania, Rwanda, Lesotho, South Africa, the British Virgin Islands, St. Lucia, Cayman Islands, Guyana, India, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Kenya, Malawi, Saudi Arabia, and Croatia.

Use of the term "international commercial court" can also mean a forum for adjudicating disputes between parties from different nations, and not as a means to reference commercial courts in a country other than the United States. New English language commercial courts have been created in Paris, Frankfurt, the Netherlands, Stuttgart and Mannheim, Germany, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Kazakhstan, Qatar, and Bahrain. This reflects the growth in international commercial courts designed to hear disputes among parties from different nations. The DIFC Courts in Dubai have had an English language international court for nearly two decades. Some international commercial courts include foreign judges with commercial court experience on their bench, for example, former Delaware Vice Chancellor and Supreme Court Justice Carolyn Berger serving on Singapore's International Commercial Court.

The Business and Property Courts of England and Wales, located in the Rolls Building, encompass 13 different courts or lists, for example, the Commercial Court, the Business List, and the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. One object of creating this consolidated forum for the business and commercial courts of England and Wales was to maintain the international preeminence of their courts for dispute resolution.

In 2023, 40% of London's Commercial Court cases involved opposing parties from different nations, and 64% involved a mix of UK parties and international parties. There is a view that the more recently created commercial courts designed to hear disputes between parties of different nations will compete with the London based commercial courts as the preferred litigation forum for international commercial disputes. In 2017, New York's Commercial Division added a "Large Complex Case List," modeled on the Business and Property Courts' Financial List for high stakes commercial litigation, as part of an overall effort to compete with the London based commercial courts as a preferred forum for international litigation.

The jurisdictional scope of commercial courts outside the United States may have some differences with U.S. state level specialized business and commercial courts. For example, the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales include specialized courts or lists for admiralty, insolvency, and patents, which in the United States would typically be subject to jurisdiction in federal tribunals, such as the United States Bankruptcy Courts or the United States District Courts, and not in specialized state trial level business courts. The scope of any commercial court's jurisdiction may vary between countries.

The Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts (SIFoCC) was created in 2016. From 2017 through 2024, the SIFoCC has held five full meetings, with dozens of judges from around the world, most recently in April 2024 in Doha, Qatar. In its 2023 policy resolution, the Association of Corporate Counsel recognizes and endorses the creation and support of business courts internationally, as well as in the United States.

Technology Disputes & Cyber Courts

In the United States and internationally, "[t]he notion of specialized courts to decide technology disputes has a rich history with noteworthy milestones."

Some states have established specialized business and commercial courts that include technology disputes as part of their express jurisdiction. Through legislative effort and court rule, in 2003, Maryland established a Business and Technology Case Management Program. In May 2003, Delaware expanded the Court of Chancery's jurisdiction to include technology disputes (10 Del. C. § 346). West Virginia's Business Court Division Rule 24.09 includes technology issues. The Tennessee's Business Court Docket encompasses technology and biotechnology licensing. North Carolina's Business Court jurisdiction includes computer software, information technology and systems, data and data system security, biotechnology and bioscience technology. Michigan's business court jurisdiction (MCL Sec. 600.8031(2)(b)) includes disputes "involving information technology, software, or website development, maintenance, or hosting...." Wyoming Chancery Court Rule 2(b)(17) provides jurisdiction over disputes "concerning a digital asset registered under W.S. § 34‑29‑201 through 34‑29‑209...." New York Commercial Division Rule 202.70(b)(1), was amended in 2024 to expressly include "technology transactions and/or commercial disputes involving or arising out of technology". This amendment is intended to make clear that New York is as experienced in handling technology as any other state's courts.

There are also examples of international courts expressly addressing technology disputes as part of their jurisdiction. Singapore's International Commercial Court (Practice Direction XXIV) includes a Technology, Infrastructure, and Construction List. In 2024, the Commercial Court, within Ireland's High Court, was in the process of developing "a specialist sub-list called the Intellectual Property and Technology List with specialist judges from the Commercial Court." The Victoria, Australia Commercial Court expressly includes jurisdiction over "Proceedings relating to technology, engineering and/or construction...." The DIFC Courts Technology and Construction Division has jurisdiction over, among other things, "claims relating to the design, supply and/or installation of computers, computer software and related network and information technology systems and services...."

Some jurisdictions emphasized the idea that newly created business courts would make use of cutting edge technologies in handling business litigation, becoming so-called "cyber courts" For example, North Carolina's Business Court was an early proponent of electronic filing and high-tech courtrooms. New York's Commercial Division created "Courtroom 2000" making various technologies available for use by the courts and parties, while also serving as "a technological laboratory" for later use in all of New York's state courts. The use of technology in case management may be especially apt in international commercial courts, with litigation between parties from different nations. For example, the ADGM Courts in Abu Dhabi self-describe as "the world's first end-to-end, fully digital courts platform...."

Entities and Committees Involved in Developing and Maintaining Business Courts

The history of business and commercial courts in the United States provides considerable examples of task forces, advisory bodies, bar associations and other entities involved in their creation, development and refinement, and in providing education on their operations.

Entities created by or with courts, legislature or executive branch of government

A number of business courts were created after studies carried out by task forces preceding a business court's creation. For example, North Carolina's Governor established the North Carolina Commission on Business Laws and the Economy, New York Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye created a Commercial Courts Task Force, a Nevada Legislative Commission formed a Subcommittee to Encourage Corporations and Other Business Entities to Organize and Conduct Business in this State, Maryland's General Assembly created a Business and Technology Court Task Force, and the South Carolina Bar, with South Carolina Supreme Court approval, created a Task Force on Courts. Other examples of states creating task forces to study and make recommendations concerning the implementation of business courts include, among others, Maine, Indiana, Michigan, West Virginia, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, New Jersey, Ohio, Delaware, Mississippi (no court created), Texas, and Oklahoma (May 2024).

Other groups have studied and reported on operations and practices in functioning business and commercial courts, to provide information and/or recommendations. Massachusetts, Superior Court Chief Justice Suzanne V. DelVecchio created a Business Litigation Resource Committee. Arizona's Supreme Court created the Commercial Court Review Committee. Iowa's State Court Administration has made annual reviews of the Iowa Business Specialty Court . Tennessee's Supreme Court created a Business Court Docket Advisory Commission. The North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts submits annual reports on the North Carolina Business Court. West Virginia's Business Court Division makes annual reports. Wisconsin's Supreme Court created the Business Courts Advisory Committee. In 2023, Utah's Supreme Court created an Advisory Committee on the Rules of Business and Chancery Procedure.

Some councils and committees take an active role in business courts' ongoing operations. In 2013, New York Court of Appeals Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman established the New York Commercial Division Advisory Council (CDAC) to implement an earlier task force's recommendations. The CDAC "is composed of distinguished commercial practitioners and Judges from around the state and [has been] chaired by Robert L. Haig, Esq. [since its inception]." In addition to providing education about the Commercial Division, the CDAC has regularly recommended Commercial Division rule changes that have been adopted after an opportunity for public comment. Indiana's Commercial Courts Working Group evolved into the Commercial Courts Committee which has been intimately involved with developing Indiana's Commercial Court Pilot Program and permanent courts.

International examples include, among others, the DIFC Courts' "Court Users Committee" and Rules Committee, Scotland's Consultive Committee on Commercial Actions, the Singapore International Commercial Courts Committee, Rwanda's Business Law Reform Cell, and Kenya's Business Court Users Committee.

Entities related to bar associations

Bar associations are also involved. The Philadelphia Bar Association's Business Litigation Committee plays a role in selecting lawyers as Judges Pro Tempore to serve as court appointed neutrals in Philadelphia Commerce Court cases. The Chicago Bar Association created its Commercial Litigation Committee "to promote discourse between judges and lawyers who handle business-related disputes" with an initial focus on the Law Division's Commercial Calendars. The Boston Bar Association's Business and Commercial Litigation Section holds an annual event, "Business Litigation Session Year in Review", where lawyers hear directly from Business Litigation Session judges. The Florida Bar's Business Law Section has a Business Courts Task Force. The Ohio State Bar Association's Corporation Law Committee urged a detailed resolution to expand the Commercial Docket statewide. The Kentucky Bar Association's Business Law Section put on early programming about Kentucky's newly established business court.

The American Bar Association has a long history in supporting the development of business courts, including, among other things, the creation of an Ad Hoc Committee on Business Courts in the 1990s, which evovled into the permanent Business Courts Subcommittee within the Business Law Section's Business and Corporate Litigation Committee; the development of a Business Court Representatives Program; and a clerkship program placing law students with business court judges for summer clerkships. The Business Law Section's Judges Initiative Committee was inspired by North Carolina Business Court Judge Ben F. Tennille (as was the Business Court Representatives Program), who served as its first judicial co-chair. South Carolina Business Court Judge Clifton Newman, Michigan Business Court Judge Christopher P. Yates, and New York Commercial Division Judge Timothy Driscoll have also served as Judges Initiative Committee co-chairs.

Private entities

Private entities have also carried out implementation or operational studies at the behest of courts, for example, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System studies and reports for Colorado's pilot business courts (Civil Access Pilot Project), the National Center for State Courts Commercial Court Evaluation for the Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County and its study of civil programs in Philadelphia's Court of Common Pleas (including its Commerce Court), a private firm study to create a business court in Atlanta (Fulton County Superior Court), and a good government group's (The Committee of Seventy) study of Philadelphia's Commerce Case Management Program. The National Center for State Courts, working with the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts, also has developed a curriculum and faculty guide for creating business courts.

The American College of Business Court Judges was established in 2005. Since 1996, the Association of Corporate Counsel has endorsed the creation of business courts in the United States where appropriate.

Business Courts and Alternative Dispute Resolution

The significant relationship between business courts and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), such as mediation, neutral evaluation, and arbitration, is well recognized, both in seeing business courts as a competitor forum with arbitration, and in using ADR as a complementary adjunct to the litigation process. Thus, for example, New York Commercial Division Rule 3 allows for court appointed mediators and neutral evaluators, Philadelphia's Commerce Case Management Program creates an alternative dispute resolution program using Judges Pro Tempore in mandated settlement conferences, and discretionary referrals to private mediation, The North Carolina Business Court Rules address mandatory mediation, and Florida's Ninth Judicial Circuit Business Court Procedures, Section 8, requires mandatory ADR, and addresses non-binding arbitration as well as mediation. The Michigan Supreme Court business court case management standards emphasize early mediation.

International examples include, among others, the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales Commercial Court Guide, Section G, addressing "Negotiated Dispute Resolution", Ireland's Commercial List, section 6(a)(b)(xiii), giving its judges power to adjourn proceedings so the parties may consider mediation, conciliation, or arbitration, Part 27 of the DIFC Court Rules (Dubai) addressing ADR, and the ADGM Courts' court annexed mediation.

Some U.S. business courts expressly encourage the use of special masters or referees in expediting some types of decision making during the litigation process, for example in North Carolina, Kentucky, New York, Indiana, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, and Georgia. Delaware's Court of Chancery also uses magistrates, who can potentially be final decision makers.

The New York Commercial Division and the Metro Atlanta Business Case Division are empowered to hear court-based disputes concerning international arbitration proceedings. A substantial part of the Commercial Court of England and Wales' docket involves arbitration appeals. The Miami-Dade County, Florida Circuit Court has an International Commercial Arbitration Court. Judge Lisa M. Walsh serves as both a Complex Business Litigation Division judge and a presiding International Commercial Arbitration Court judge.

Appellate Business and Commercial Courts

In 2023, Texas passed a law creating an appellate level business court, the Fifteenth Court of Appeals, which will not become operational until September 2024, at the earliest. Once operational, it would become the first specialized appellate level business court in the United States. On February 6, 2024, the Texas Supreme Court approved a preliminary set of appellate rules for this new court, subject to public comment (which closed on May 1, 2024). Pennsylvania earlier passed a law, in 2020, encouraging the Superior Court of Pennsylvania to create a specialized appellate Commerce Court, but that intermediate appellate court has not done so.

Other appellate courts have been described as commercial or business courts, not by design, but in reference to their actual case work, such as the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and the Delaware Supreme Court. Retired Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner wrote that in the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth century, “t]he New York Court of Appeals was the nation’s premier commercial court.” The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has been similarly described as “the country’s leading commercial court during the 1940s and 1950s...."

India's Commercial Courts law includes provisions for specialized commercial appellate divisions. There is a Netherland's Commercial Court of Appeals, and Enterprise Chamber of the Amsterdam Court of Appeals. Singapore's International Commercial Court is designated to hear appeals from Bahrain's International Commercial Court.

Business and Commercial Court Judges in the United States Since 1993

Following is a non-exhaustive list of business court judges serving over a period of years in U.S. business and commercial courts, in and after 1993, and/or identifying many judges who were pioneers on their bench and/or have had an impact beyond their bench, such as participation in the American College of Business Court Judges (ACBCJ) or American Bar Association. 1993 is when the first modern business court programs began in the United States. The list does not include Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors from the Delaware Court of Chancery, which has been a pre-eminent business court for over a century, and whose judges have held an important place as business court judges over that time.

• Brent T. Adams, Second Judicial District, Nevada, Business Court. Adams was the first presiding judge in the Reno based Business Court created in 2000, and served on it until his retirement in 2014.

• James M. Alexander, Michigan Circuit Court, Business Court. Alexander served on the Oakland County Business Court from its inception until his retirement in 2020.

• Nancy L. Alff, Eighth Judicial District Court, Nevada, Business Court. As a lawyer, Alff was on the Business Court Task Force that had proposed creating business court dockets in Nevada, and she ultimately served 10 years as a judge on the Las Vegas Business Court. She is a member of the American College of Business Court Judges. She was a Business Court Representative to the American Bar Association's Business Law Section.

• Jon Van Allsburg, Michigan Circuit Court, Business Court. Van Allsburg has been an Ottawa County Business Court judge since its inception in 2013 (as of May 2024).

• Michael J. Aprahamian, Wisconsin Circuit Court, Commercial Docket Pilot Project. Waukesha County Judge Aprahamiam was on the Business Court Advisory Committee that petitioned to create Wisconsin's Commercial Docket Pilot Project in 2016, was among the first judges to be appointed to the pilot business court after it was approved as a three-year pilot program, and remains a Commercial Docket judge (as of May 2024). Aprahamian has written and spoken extensively in explaining this business court.

• Leonard B. Austin, New York Commercial Division. Judge Austin served on the Commercial Division in Nassau County for 9 years, and was later appointed to New York's intermediate appellate court. He is a past president of the American College of Business Court Judges.

• Lewis A. Bledsoe, III, North Carolina Business Court. Bledsoe was appointed to the Business Court in 2014 and was designated its Chief Judge in 2018, a position he still holds (as of May 2024). He served as a Business Court Representative to the American Bar Association's Business Law Section.

• Craig J. Bobay, Indiana Superior Court, Commercial Court. Bobay has been a Commercial Court judge in Allen County (Fort Wayne) since its inception in 2016, served as a co-founder of Indiana's Commercial Courts Working Group, and is current chair of the Indiana Commercial Committee.

• Alice D. Bonner, Fulton County Georgia Superior Court Business Case Division, later Metro Atlanta Business Case Division. In 2005, Bonner was appointed as one of the original judges in the Business Case Division. She continued serving for over 15 years. She participated in the first meeting of the American College of Business Court Judges in 2005.

• Herman Cahn, New York Commercial Division. In 1993, Cahn was appointed as one of the original pilot Commercial Part judges in Manhattan, after he had been instrumental in creating this pilot business court. He continued his role as a business court judge after the creation of the Commercial Division in 1995, serving there until 2008.

• Audrey J.S. Carrion, Circuit Court of Maryland, Business and Technology Case Management Program (BTCMP). Carrion was appointed to the Baltimore City Circuit Court BTCMP in 2010, was its Director from 2012 to January 1, 2020, and remains a BTCMP judge (as of May 2024). She was a Business Court Representative to the American Bar Association's Business Law Section.

• Carolyn E. Demerest, New York Commercial Division. Demarest served in the Brooklyn, Kings County Commercial Division from its inception in 2002 through 2016.

• Mark R. Denton, Eighth Judicial District Court, Nevada, Business Court. Denton has served in the Las Vegas District Court's business court docket for over 15 years. He is the immediate past president of the American College of Business Court Judges.

• John P. DiBlasi, New York Commercial Division. DiBlasi was the first Commercial Division judge in Westchester County in 1999, and served in the Commercial Division for ten years. Now a nationally known mediator, he was early to implement ADR in the Commercial Division.

• Timothy S. Driscoll, New York Commercial Division. Driscoll has been a Nassau County Commercial Division judge since 2009 (as of May 2024). He has written extensively on practice and development in the Commercial Division. He is a past president of the American College of Business Court Judges.

• Elizabeth Hazlitt Emerson, New York Commercial Division. In 2002, Hazlitt Emerson played a key part in establishing the Commercial Division in Suffolk County, where she served for two decades, and took on significant responsibilities in shaping Commercial Division structure and practice across New York. She served as a 2021-2023 Business Court Representative to the ABA's Section of Business Law.

• Helen E. Freedman, New York Commercial Division. Freedman served in the Manhattan Commercial Division for over eight years, until her appointment to New York's intermediate appellate court in 2008.

• Gill Freeman, Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida, Complex Business Litigation Section. Freeman was the first judge presiding over Miami's Complex Business Litigation Section, serving in that role for five years. She is co-chair of the Florida Bar's Business Law Section's Business Courts Task Force.

• James Gale, North Carolina Business Court. Gale served for a decade on the North Carolina Business Court, including three years as its Chief Judge. He is a Director of the American College of Business Court Judges. He was co-chair of the ABA Business Law Section's Business Courts Subcommittee, and has also been a co-editor of the "Business Courts" chapter in the American Bar Association publication, Recent Developments in Business and Corporate Litigation.

• Ira Gammerman, New York Commercial Division. Gammerman began as one of the four original pilot Commercial Part judges in Manhattan in 1993, and continued for many years with the Commercial Division.

• Allan van Gestel, Suffolk (Massachusetts) Superior Court, Business Litigation Session. van Gestel was the original Business Litigation Session (BLS) judge in 2000, and served as a BLS judge until his 2007 retirement, personally authoring hundreds of opinions. He particpated in the first meeting of the American College of Business Court Judges in 2005.

• Gary S. Glazer, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Commerce Case Management Program. Glazer served for nearly a decade on the Commerce Court, including 2018-2021 as its Supervising Judge. He is also one of the few U.S. judges to actively participate in the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts.

• Allen S. Goldberg, Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Commercial Calendar. Goldberg served on Chicago's Commercial Calendar from 2000-2011. In 2004, he headed the committee that drafted rules for the Cook County Circuit Court's Law Division's court-annexed mediation program. He was a Business Court Representative to the American Bar Association's Business Law Section. He participated in the first meeting of the American College of Business Court Judges in 2005.

• Elizabeth Goff Gonzalez, Eighth Judicial District Court, Nevada, Business Court. Beginning in 2007, Gonzales began her many years of service presiding over the Las Vegas District Court's business court docket. She is a past president of the American College of Business Court Judges.

• John W. Herron, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Commerce Case Management Program (Commerce Court). As Administrative Judge, in 1999 Herron issued the order creating the Commerce Court, and then served as one of the original Commerce Court judges during its first two years.

• Joseph Iannazzone, Superior and State Courts of Gwinnett County, Georgia Business Court, later Metro Atlanta Business Case Division. Iannazzone was one of two judges in Gwinnett County's Business Court, which later joined the Metro Atlanta Business Case Division. He is a past president of the American College of Business Court Judges.

• Mary Miller Johnston, Superior Court of Delaware, Complex Commercial Litigation Division (CCLD). New Castle County Superior Court Judge Miller Johnston was appointed a CCLD judge in 2011, served on the CCLD until 2023, being the longest serving CCLD judge as of 2024, and was often cross-designated as a Vice Chancellor in Delaware's Court of Chancery. She was a Business Court Representative to the American Bar Association's Business Law Section, and is an officer of the American College of Business Court Judges.

• John R. Jolly, Jr., North Carolina Business Court. Jolly served on the Business Court from 2005-2014, 2011 to 2014 as its Chief Judge. Jolly participated in the first meeting of the American College of Business Court Judges in 2005.

• M. Randall Jurrens, Circuit Court of Michigan, Business Court. Jurrens was appointed to the Saginaw County Business Court upon its inception in 2013, and remains a judge in that program (as of May 2024), with his term currently ending in 2025.

• Deborah Karulunas, New York Commercial Division. Karulunas presided in the Onondaga County (Syracuse) Commercial Division from its inception in 2007 for over 15 years.

• Elizabeth E. Long, Fulton County Georgia Superior Court Business Case Division, later Metro Atlanta Business Case Division. In 2005, Long was appointed as one of the original judges in the Business Case Division. She continued serving for over 15 years. She participated in the first meeting of the American College of Business Court Judges in 2005.

• Ellen Hobbs Lyle, Davidson County (Nashville), Tennessee Chancery Court, Business Court Pilot Project. In 2015, Hobbs Lyle became Tennessee's first business court judge, and established the new program as its sole judge through the end of 2017.

• Albert J. Matricciani, Circuit Court of Maryland, Business and Technology Case Management Program (BTCMP). Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Matricciani was appointed to the Business and Technology Case Management Program Implementation Committee in 2001, was a Director of the BTCMP from 2001-2008, and was one of the first BTCMP judges in Baltimore when that program became operational in 2003, until he was appointed to Maryland's intermediate appellate court in 2008. He was a Business Court Representative to the American Bar Association's Business Law Section. Matricciani participated in the first meeting of the American College of Business Court Judges in 2005.

• Patricia A. McInerney, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Commerce Case Management Program (Commerce Court). McInerney served on the Commerce Court in two different periods. Her second appointment came in 2011 and she served until 2018, during which time she became the Commerce Court's first Supervising Judge. McInerney was also a Business Court Representative to the American Bar Association's Business Law Section.

• Richard McNamara, New Hampshire Superior Court, Business and Commercial Dispute Docket (BCD). In 2009, McNamara was New Hampshire's first BCD judge, and served in that role for 11 years.

• Clifton B. Newman, South Carolina Circuit Court Business Court. Newman was appointed to South Carolina's Business Court in 2010, and handled business and commercial litigation cases until his retirement over a decade later. He is a past president of the American College of Business Court Judges.

• Stephen I. Platt, Circuit Court of Maryland, Business and Technology Case Management Program. Sitting in Prince Georges County, Platt was the original supervising judge of the newly created Maryland business court program from 2003-2005, and was an architect of that program. He is a past president of the American College of Business Court Judges. He has also educated broadly about presiding over business litigation, well beyond Maryland.

• Charles Ramos, New York Commercial Division. Ramos served as a Commercial Division judge in Manhattan from 1996-2018. During his tenure, in 2013, Ramos was designated to hear all international arbitration cases before the Commercial Division.

• Randolph G. Rich, State Court of Gwinnett County Georgia Business Court, Metro Atlanta Business Case Division. Then State Court Judge Randy Rich implemented Gwinnett County's Business Court as a pilot program over 15 years ago, and remained a Business Court judge in Gwinnett until that program became part of the Metro Atlanta Business Case Division, where, by then Superior Court Judge Rich continued to serve as a business court judge until 2020.

• Renee A. Roche, Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida, Business Court. Roche was the first specialized business court judge in Florida, appointed in 2004. Roche served as a Business Court Representative to the American Bar Association's Business Law Section. Roche served on the Executive Committee of the team that organized the first meeting of the American College of Business Court Judges in 2005.

• Ronald B. Rubin, Circuit Court of Maryland, Business and Technology Case Management Program (BTCMP). Rubin served on the Montgomery County Circuit Court BTCMP from 2008 to November 2021, and has continued to serve in that program as a senior judge (as of May 2024). He has been the statewide BTCMP's most prolific opinion writer.

• J. Stephen Schuster, who handled complex business litigation in the Superior Court of Cobb County, Georgia, is a past president of the ACBCJ, past co-chair of the ABA Section of Business Law's Judges Initiative Committee, and served as a Business Court Representative to the ABA's Business Law Section.

• Albert W. Sheppard, Jr., Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas' Commerce Case Management Program (Commerce Court). Sheppard served on the Commerce Court from its inception in 2000, until his death in 2011. Sheppard participated in the first meeting of the American College of Business Court Judges in 2005.

Patrick J. Sherlock, Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Commercial Calendar. Sherlock was first assigned to the Chicago Circuit Court's Commercial Calendar in 2013, and is now the Supervising Judge of the Commercial Calendars (as of May 2024).

• Michael Silverstein, Rhode Island Superior Court Business Calendar. In 2001, Silverstein was the first judge assigned to the Business Calendar, which he co-created with Superior Court Presiding Justice Joseph F. Rodgers Jr., and served until 2018.

• Joseph R. Slights, III, Delaware Superior Court Complex Commercial Litigation Division (CCLD). Slights was instrumental in creating the CCLD and served as one of its first judges. He was later a Vice Chancellor in Delaware's Court of Chancery. Slights participated in the first meeting of the American College of Business Court Judges in 2005.

• Thomas B. Smith, Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida (Orange and Osceola Counties), Business Court. In 2003, Smith initiated the idea of establishing a specialized business court in the Ninth Circuit, which was created the following year by order of President Judge Belvin Perry. Smith later served as a Business Court judge. Both Smith and Perry participated in the first meeting of the American College of Business Court Judges in 2005.

• Thomas A. Stander, New York Seventh Judicial District Commercial Division, Monroe County. The Rochester based Commercial Division was created simultaneously with the Manhattan Commercial Division, effective November 6, 1995, with Stander selected to be its first judge, who regarded and pursued active case management as a key objective. He led that Commercial Division for ten years.

• Brian P. Stern, Rhode Island Superior Court, Business Calendar. Stern has been a Business Calendar judge since 2011, and remains so (as of May 2024).

• Brian R. Sullivan, Michigan Circuit Court, Business Court. Sullivan has been a Business Court judge in Wayne County (Detroit) since the Business Court's inception in 2013 (as of May 2024).

• John Telleen, Iowa District Court, Business Specialty Court. Seventh Judicial District Judge Telleen was one of the three judges originally appointed to the Iowa Business Specialty Court Pilot Project in 2013, and remains one of the judges on the permanent court (as of May 2024). He is a Director of the American College of Business Court Judges.

• Ben F. Tennille, North Carolina Business Court. Tennille was the first North Carolina Business Court judge in 1995 and served as the leader of that court until his retirement in 2011. He has been influential in the growth of business courts nationally and internationally. He inspired the founding of the American College of Business Court Judges, of which he was the first president. He was a driving force behind creating the American Bar Association's Judges Initiative Committee and Business Court Representatives Program.

• Sean D. Wallace, Circuit Court of Maryland. Wallace served on the Prince Georges County Circuit Court and as a Maryland courts chair of the business and technology case management subcommittee from 2015-2020. He is a past president of the American College of Business Court Judges, and was a Business Court Representative to the American Bar Association's Business Law Section.

• Christine A. Ward, Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County (Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, Commerce and Complex Litigation Center. Ward was one of two judges appointed in 2007 to serve on the newly created Commerce and Complex Litigation Center, along with legendary Pennsylvania Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr. She remains a judge in that program, as of May 2024, while also serving as the Civil Division's Administrative Judge. Judge Ward is a past president of the American College of Business Court Judges.

• Heather Welch, Marion County Superior Court, Commercial Court. Welch was integral to the creation of Indiana's Commercial Courts, co-creating a Commercial Courts Working Group in 2014, ultimately leading to pilot Commercial Courts being implemented in 2016. She served as a Commercial Court judge in Marion County (Indianapolis) from the pilot stage until her retirement in early 2024. She is an officer of the American College of Business Court Judges, on track to become its president, was a Business Court Representative to the American Bar Association's Business Law Section, and has co-chaired its Business Courts Subcommittee.

• Ira B. Warshawsky, New York Commercial Division. Warshawsky served as a Commercial Division Judge in Nassau County from 2002 to 2011, and is a past president of the American College of Business Court Judges.

• Craig L. Wellerson, Superior Court of New Jersey, Complex Business Litigation Program (CBLP). Ocean County Judge Wellerson was among the first set of county judges designated to the CBLP at its 2015 inception. He remains a CBLP judge (as of May 2024), and is Chair of the Committee of Complex Business Litigation Judges.

• Christopher C. Wilkes, Circuit Court of West Virginia, Business Court Division. Wilkes served as the first chair of the Business Court Division from 2012-2018, and continued with the business court as a senior judge, with a term expiring on December 31, 2024. He also served as a Business Court Representative to the American Bar Association's Business Law Section.

• Robert C. Wilson, Superior Court of New Jersey, Bergen County, Complex Business Litigation Program (CBLP). Wilson was assigned as the CBLP judge in Bergen County when that program began in 2015, until his 2023 retirement, but even before that he had experience as a business court judge in Bergen County, which had a history of specialized assignments of complex commercial cases.

• Christopher P. Yates, Kent County, Michigan Circuit Court, Business Court. He was the original business court judge in Kent County, serving in that position for a decade until his 2022 appointment to Michigan's intermediate appellate court. As of May 2024, he is the President of the American College of Business Court Judges. He is a past co-chair of the American Bar Association's Judges Initiative Committee and has written on the role of the ABA in developing business courts.

• Roger M. Young, Sr., South Carolina Circuit Court, Business Court. Ninth Judicial Circuit (Charleston) Judge Young was among the first judges appointed to the Business Court in 2007, was appointed Chief Business Court Judge for Administrative Purposes in 2016, and through later orders has been reappointed to that position (as of May 2024).

References

• Mitchell L. Bach & Lee Applebaum, A History of the Creation and Jurisdiction of Business Courts in the Last Decade, 60 Business Lawyer 147 (2004).
• Lee Applebaum, Mitchell Bach, Eric Milby and Richard L. Renck, Through the Decades: The Development of Business Courts in the United States of America, 75 Business Lawyer 2053 (2020).
• Hon. Benjamin F. Tennille, Lee Applebaum & Prof. Anne Tucker Nees, Getting to Yes in Specialized Business Courts: The Unique Role of ADR in Business Court Cases, 11 Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal 35 (2010)
• John F. Coyle, Business Courts and Interstate Competition, 53 William & Mary Law Review 1915 (2012).
• Rochelle C. Dreyfuss, Forums of the Future: The Role of Specialized Courts in Resolving Business Disputes, 61 Brooklyn Law Review 1 (1995).
• Anne Tucker Nees, Making a Case for Business Courts: A Survey of and Proposed Framework to Evaluate Business Courts, 24 Georgia State University Law Review 477 (2007).
• Alvin Stauber, Commercial Courts: A Twenty First Century Necessity?, Judicial Studies Institute Journal 154 (2007).
• David Williams, "Technology Boom Prompts Calls for Specialized Courts". (October 2000).

External links

• Business Court Resources, University of Maryland School of Law
• Best of the Best Civil Justice Resources, Business/Commercial Courts, National Center for State Courts
• Business Courts Blog (2018–present)