With the exception of palletising of boxes all operatives were female*.THE HIGH Court of Justice consists of the Chancery, Queen's Bench and Family Divisions and of the London official referees' courts.

The latter does not have the legal status of a division but exhibits most of the characteristics of one.

The official referees' courts are at present thriving.The courts are managed by the senior of the official referees in conjunction with the senior clerk.

The judges consist of eight permanent official referees, 21 official referee recorders, who sit for not less than 20 days a year, and 'visiting judges', who undertake official referee's business part-time on circuits and who normally stay for three to four weeks.

Each official referee has a clerk, who is both his or her personal clerk and clerk of his or her court.

There are nine other members of staff.The official referees' courts are situated on the third to sixth floors of St Dunstan's House, 133-137 Fetter Lane, London EC4A 1HD which is about five minutes walk from the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand.

There are four large courts, four medium-sized courts and two small courts, together with judges' and clerks' rooms, registry, waiting areas, counsel's robing room, consultation rooms and other accommodation.

The courts have excellent acoustics and are suitably furnished; each is equipped with mechanical recording apparatus and two have overhead television cameras near to the witnesses' chair, which will project on to receivers for the official referee, counsel, experts and others.Only an official referee, a deputy official referee or official referee recorder may deal with official referee's business; a High Court judge has no power to do so.

An official referee may, when dealing with official referee's business, exercise all the powers of a judge of the Chancery Division or of a judge of the Queen's Bench Division.Official referees are circuit judges nominated by the Lord Chancellor to undertake official referee's business.

They are referred to in the Rules of the Supreme Court and in universal parlance as 'official referees'; for purposes of remuneration they are in a category immediately below that of High Court judges.

None of the official referees is a registered architect, chartered engineer, chartered surveyor or otherwise professionally qualified in one of the many disciplines which are involved in cases but all official referees have had many years' experience at the Bar and as judges in dealing with technical issues.Ord 36, r.1 of the Rules of the Supreme Court states that official referee's business includes any Chancery or Queen's Bench 'cause or matter(a) which involves a prolong ed examination of documents or accounts, or technical, scientific or local investigation such as could more conveniently be conducted by an official referee or(b) for which trial by an official referee is desirable in the interest of one or more of the parties on grounds of expedition, economy or convenience or otherwise'.Since the rule uses the word 'includes' official referee's business need not fall within either of the categories of work described.

Category (a) dates back to the creation of official referees by the Judicature Acts 1873 to 1875, but category (b) was enacted in only 1982.

The effect of (b) is to enable an official referee to try any case within the Chancery Division or the Queen's Bench Division, but most cases tried fall within one or other of the types listed in the notes to ord 36 of the Rules of the Supreme Court.About three quarters of official referee cases come from the construction industry and concern architects, engineers, surveyors, geotechnical experts, solicitors, contractors, sub-contractors, house-builders, developers, property owners (large and small), building societies and other financial institutions, local authorities exercising statutory powers of control, the National House Building Council and many others.

Disputes in the construction industry are infinitely varied and, since some arise abroad, the official referees are to an extent 'invisible exports'.After construction cases, the next most numerous are those concerned with goods and with work and materials.

Recent examples include: seaworthiness of a yacht, suitability of fertilisers, refrigeration plant for ice-cream manufacturers, the value of a painting and the fire and gas detection system on a super tanker.Neighbours sue each other for damage to property caused by removal of support, vibrations and escape of noxious substances.

Landlord and tenant cases usually relate to breaches of covenants for repair or to service charges.

Cases involving accounts are rare, but arise out of such matters as misrepresentation on the sale of shares in a construction company.Cases concerning fires and computers were added to the lists in the notes to ord 36 by practice direction of the then Lord Chief Justice in 1988.

So far fire cases have been few, but claims in respect of hard and soft computerware are increasing.

To date the only environmental cases have related to river pollution.

The courts' first group action is by bank customers against their banks in respect of withdrawals from cash dispensers.The amounts involved in official referee cases vary from less than £50,000 to many millions.

Many involve three or more parties.

Most concern intricate facts and a large proportion equally intricate law.

In recent years many of the leading cases concerning contract and tort have started in the official referees' courts, for example D&F Estates Ltd v Church Commissioners for England [1989] AC 177 and Murphy v Brentwood District Council [1991] 1 AC 398.A special form of official referee's business is concerned with arbitrations.

Since 1984, the commercial courts have as a matter of routine transferred to the official referees applications for leave to appeal from arbitrators and the hearing of appeals in construction cases.

Recently applications to remove arbitrators have also been transferred.

In addition, parties are increasingly making applications to official referees in arbitration matters which do not have to commence in the commercial courts.Under s.5 of the Arbitration Act 1950, as substituted by s.99 of the Courts and Legal Se rvices Act 1990, an official referee may him or herself sit as an arbitrator if he or she agrees to do so and if the Lord Chief Justice informs him or her that the state of the lists makes it possible for him or her to be made available.

Applications for an official referee to sit as an arbitrator must be made to him or her by letter.

The official referees have agreed between themselves that they will not ordinarily agree to sit as arbitrators except in cases which involve points of law and are not expected to last for more than five days.

Payments for the official referee's services as arbitrator have to be made to public funds.In the early 1980s an official referee would sometimes, at the request of parties to an action which he or she was trying, exercise the powers of an arbitrator to open up an architect's certificate under a JCT contract.

In this way the necessity for parties to bring arbitration proceedings as well as court proceedings was avoided.

In Northern Regional Health Authority v Derek Crouch Construction Ltd [1984] 2 WLR 676 the Court of Appeal held that parties could not confer on an official referee a jurisdiction which he or she would not otherwise have.

However, s.100 of the Act of 1990 provides that in any case proceeding in the High Court in connection with a contract incorporating an arbitration agreement, the court may, if all the parties to the agreement agree, exercise the powers of an arbitrator.Actions may be commenced by writ or originating summons in the official referees' courts' registry or may be transferred to it from other courts.

Prior to 1982, the official referees did not have an original jurisdiction: all cases had to be transferred or referred to them.

That is how official referees acquired their title! Nowadays, most official referee cases start in the official referees' courts' registry but some are still transferred to it from the Chancery Division, Queen's Bench Division, district registries on the south eastern and other circuits and county courts.

Since 1982 it has been possible to transfer cases without the consent of the parties.The most distinctive characteristic of the official referees' courts is that each case is allocated to a named official referee, who deals with all interlocutory proceedings in it and, if available, tries it.

This enables the official referee to maintain closer and more continuous 'case management' than is possible elsewhere in either the High Court or county courts.

The official referee is assisted by his or her clerk, who monitors the progress of all cases in his or her list.

Since 1884 the rules of court have required that allocation of cases to official referees should be by rote, so preventing 'forum shopping'.After allocation of a case to an official referee, the plaintiff must issue a summons for directions before him or her.

On the hearing of the summons the official referee will review the state of the pleadings, order any necessary further and better particulars and decide whether a Scott schedule will be required.

Scott schedules are an admirable method of making a case involving much detail manageable, but they are expensive to prepare and it is seldom necessary to try one item by item.

Variations on Scott schedules are possible, for example preparations by the plaintiff of a draft final account on which the defendant may be required to comment.The official referee will next make orders: for discovery and inspection of documents; limiting the number of experts whom the parties may call; requiring that the experts should meet without prejud ice to endeavour to agree technical facts and to narrow issues; requiring exchange of experts' reports; and requiring exchange of statements of witnesses of fact to stand as evidence in chief.

The official referee may also order joint site inspections or laboratory tests.

In suitable cases he or she will order a view of the subject matter of the action by him or herself accompanied by one expert instructed by each party.If the case is likely to be a long or difficult one, the official referee will order a pre-trial conference to be attended by counsel and solicitors engaged in the case.

He or she will probably direct that before the pre-trial conference counsel for the plaintiff provide the court and counsel for other parties with a list of issues and proposals as to how the case can best be tried and that other counsel should comment upon it.

All orders are made by reference to calendar dates which are easier to remember and give rise to less uncertainty than for example 'seven days after a specified event'.Finally, on the summons for directions the official referee will, after discussing the probable length of the case with the parties, fix a hearing date.

Since recorders and visiting judges cannot normally sit for more than ten days at a time, all larger cases and also all arbitration matters have to be taken by the official referee.

The practice is to fix six cases for each Monday in term time in each official referee's list, of which no more than three or four per month will be 'over ten days cases'.

In overbooking by a factor of six the official referee is relying upon a settlement rate between summons for directions and date for trial of 85%, which usually happens, and upon recorders being available to assist the court at short notice.

The alternative to overbooking is later hearing dates.

Under 11 days cases are usually fixed for six to nine months ahead and over ten days cases 15 to 18 months ahead.

There is no question of delay because parties cannot normally be ready for trial in less than those periods.If after the summons for directions there needs to be further interlocutory applications, on each the official referee will take advantage of the opportunity to review the progress of preparations for trial.Very long trials are extremely expensive and can result in a party having to agree to an unfair settlement because he or she is running out of funds.

Preparing a judgment in a long multi-issue case (say 60 days) can be a very great burden on an official referee and take considerable time, giving rise to complaints about delay in giving judgment.

The pre-trial conference provides an opportunity for the official referee, counsel and solicitors to explore together whether proceedings can be shortened by the trial of preliminary issues, specimen items from a Scott schedule, liability only or in some other way.

In the light of guidance provided by a decision on, say, a preliminary issue parties invariably settle their remaining differences.Trials in the official referees' courts are substantially the same as trials in other courts.

Counsel for the plaintiff is expected to provide a written summary of his or her opening before hand; counsel for other parties may also be allowed to make short opening statements subject to providing summaries of them.

Whenever possible core bundles of documents are provided.

Views are best held after the opening.

Witness statements are usually taken as 'read', so that cross-examination commences almost at once, unless the court rescinds or limits the order for them to stand as evidence in chief.

Expert witnesses are called.

Counsel usually provide written summaries of their final submissions.If ord 14 and ord 29 summonses seeking summary judgments and interim payments respectively are to serve their purpose of providing speedy justice, it is essential that early appointments should be given for the hearing of them.

In October 1991, after a number of appointments had been rendered abortive by late delivery of affidavits, standard directions as to service both of summonses and of affidavits were issued.

Since then most ord 14 and ord 29 summonses have been heard within six weeks of issue.Applications for leave to appeal from arbitrators also need to be heard speedily.

Official referees take them under a rota which is separate from the general list rota; the aim is to hear them within three weeks of receipt of them from the Commercial Court.

Appeals and other arbitration applications do not normally last more than two or three days and are interposed in the general list.

The aim is to hear them within three to four months.Official referees' courts sit throughout law terms and undertake some trials and other work during vacation.

On Mondays to Thursdays in term time official referees sit before 10.30am to take summonses for directions and other summonses with estimated lengths of not more than 15 minutes and after 10.30am to try cases.

On Fridays official referees take long summonses, pre-trial conferences and applications for leave to appeal from arbitrators.

In each week in law vacations an official referee sits on Wednesdays to deal with all types of summonses and at other times by arrangement with his or her clerk.On most days in term time there are ten official referees' courts sitting, but official referees unlike all other judges are not obliged to sit in court rooms and on occasions accommodation in counsel's chambers and solicitors' offices have been borrowed to enable extra courts to sit.Between 1972 and 1981 the work of the official referees' courts increased by about 100%; between 1982 and 1990 their work continued to increase, in some years by nearly 15%; in 1991 there was a fall of about 8%; last year the figures were much the same as for 1991.Since January 1984, there has been an official referees' courts' users' committee on which the main professions and bodies engaged in the construction industry, local authorities, insurers and practitioners are represented.

Since 'only the wearer knows how the shoe fits' the committee is of great value in making suggestions and in acting as a 'sounding board' for proposals of the official referees.

The Bar representatives on the committee are nominated by the Official Referees Bar Association and the solicitors' representatives by the Official Referees Solicitors Association.

The elected chairman of the committee is the senior official referee and the elected vice-chairman is the representative of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.Official referees regularly undertake lecturing commitments for professional bodies, universities and other organisations concerned with construction matters.The official referees have long been innovators.

Examples have been: in the last century exchange of experts' reports; in the 1920s the Scott schedule; in 1981 meetings of experts and exchange of statements of witnesses of fact; later in the 1980s extensive use of pre-trial conferences principally to avoid long trials; and in 1991 standard directions for ord 14 and ord 29 summonses.

Only once, namely in Crouch, was an innovation overruled and that was restored by l egislation.

Many official referees' court innovations have later been adopted throughout the High Court, eg exchange of statements of witnesses of fact.

Official referees have also been able to carry out practical experiments with various forms of information technology and recording of evidence.The London official referees' courts are almost unique in being concentrated in one place.

This has helped to bring about a strong team spirit among official referees and staff.

Most have a genuine commitment towards the success of the courts, measured by their ability to provide a quick and efficient service for the resolution of disputes and to do so in a friendly fashion.