Miscellaneous

Cincinnati Looking for Business

By Anne Skove, Esq.

Are business courts an evil plot? An unnecessary layer of bureaucracy? Too pro-business to be non-satanic? A "welcome" sign to commercial interests? Or all of the above?

Turns out that business courts are like any other innovation -- good if done right. Hamilton County, Ohio, thinks a new business court will be in place by this fall.

Many states have some sort of business-oriented court. The names, which suggest subject matter jurisdiction, change from place to place: complex litigation court, business court, chancery, complex business litigation, commercial division, etc.

From what we've seen the basic trend is this: civil defense bar and business community call for a specialized court. Some judges think this sounds like a better gig than what they currently do. Local proponents claim the new court will attract business, save time and money, and improve the local economy.

Protesters, if any, say there's no need. If it ain't broke, blah blah blah. They also warn of a pro-business bias, and worry about "brain drain" on the bench.

There may be a flurry of pro v. con articles and letters in publications aimed at lawyers (nobody else really cares). Eventually, a business court happens -- quickly if there's some sort of establishing protocol in place.

Then what? Happy business lawyers, we suppose. Many of the protesters' fears are unfounded. A pro-business bias, for example, makes little sense because most such courts hear only business v. business cases. No civilians are harmed. Whether these courts grow business, or whether the pro-business climate creating the courts in the first place stimulates the economy, nobody seems to have measured.

Generally, complex litigation-type courts have been favorably reviewed by researchers and the local legal (and business) communities. The poorly-run ones burn out judges with high volumes of difficult cases. The better ones have enough funding to hire staff, sane case assignment, and enough cases to stay solvent.

See Judges Want Special Business Court, Kimball Perry, Cincinnati Enquirer (June 28, 2008). See also the definitive A History of the Creation and Jurisdiction of Business Courts in the Last Decade, Mitchell L. Bach and Lee Applebaum, Business Lawyer 60: 147 (November 2004).

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on June 28, 2008 (boomark / email).