This manual has arisen as part of a mandate set by the Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting (CLMM) in Edinburgh in 2008, and by the meeting of Law Ministers of Small Commonwealth Jurisdictions (LMSCJ), which took place in London in 2007. The mandate resulted in the Commonwealth Secretariat looking for new ways to further its overall objective to improve the non-judicial aspects of court administration, case flow management and court room administration in final/appellate, regional and international courts and tribunals (hereafter referred to as the ‘courts and tribunals’). Meanwhile, a key recommendation made in 2007/08 by the Commonwealth Meeting of Justices and Registrars of Final/Appellate Courts and Regional Courts in Port of Spain, Trinidad, highlighted the importance of convening a meeting: ‘To discuss issues and exchange information about best practice in registries’. As a direct consequence, the Secretariat decided that the best way to proceed was to invite a broad cross-section of registrars and administrators to prepare detailed written papers which could then form the basis for a conference and workshop session. The outcomes of the conference would in turn be synthesised and compiled to form a userfriendly, practical manual: the Handbook of Best Practice for Registrars of Final/Regional Appellate Courts and International Tribunals (hereafter the Handbook).