The Ministry of Justice has declined to confirm or deny rumoured plans to restructure the High Court’s Chancery Division.

According to the Financial Times, the MoJ has put forward reform plans which would see the Chancery Division, which deals with a range of disputes relating to business, property or land, trusts as well as intellectual property, wills and commercial disputes both domestic and international, rebranded as the Business and Property Division.

The proposals are said to be a bid to improve efficiency at the High Court and create a ‘structure more comprehensible to outsiders’, the FT reported.

Lord Justice Colin Birss

Sir Colin Birss would become president of the Business and Property Division

Source: Michael Cross

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The changes would also see chancellor of the High Court Sir Colin Birss become president of the Business and Property Division. Birss was sworn in as chancellor in November 2025.

A MoJ spokesperson said: ‘This government inherited a justice system in crisis across both criminal and civil courts, and we continue to work closely with the judiciary to consider how the wider system can be modernised.’