Business Litigation & Contract Negotiation Newsletter - April 2018

BREAKING NEWS: Creation of the International Chambers of  the Paris Commercial Court and the Court of Appeal  

On February 7th, 2018, two agreement protocols were signed by the French Ministry of Justice together with the Paris Bar Association, the Paris Commercial Court and the Paris Court of Appeal, which provide for the creation of a new chamber dedicated to International commercial matters within each Court.

Paris provided itself with the tools needed to assert itself as a leading center for cross-border commercial dispute resolution. Judges and clerks assigned to these specialized chambers will be proficient in English, qualified to work on Common law issues and sensitized to the subtleties of international litigation. Judges will apply the law governing the dispute.

Despite the ordinances of Villers-Cotterêts, the parties will be able to plead, testify and proceed to depositions in English. Exhibits may also be circulated in English without translation and simultaneous translation will be implemented during the hearings. The judge will issue a ruling in French, accompanied by a translation.

As a result, Paris’s attractiveness as an international legal center has been boosted.