The BVI is home to a well-regarded commercial court backed by a robust legal framework. The court system deals with matters expeditiously, economically and proportionately, and its highest court of appeal is the London Privy Council.
The Territory’s profile was raised in 2009 with the opening of the Commercial Court of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. The court was opened in the BVI to manage commercial matters generated by the jurisdiction’s financial services industry.
In 2015, Justice Barry Leon succeeded Justice Edward Bannister, Q.C. who served as Commercial Court Judge since the establishment of the Commercial Court. Between them they have dealt with hundreds of applications of complex matters ranging from arbitration to insolvency.
Although the Commercial Court may hear cases from any of the nine member jurisdictions of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, in practice for a number of different reasons the Commercial division's work is predominately from the British Virgin Islands. The minimum value for a claim to be brought in the Commercial Court is US$500,000, although most cases are considerably larger than that.