Abstract After four years of operation of the Civil Service Tribunal (CST), the article gives an overview over this new Community Court. Unlike the vast majority of other international organizations, in the EU the legal rules and judicial protection in staff matters are closely interconnected with other areas of law related to the organization's core activities. However, long ago staff cases were discussed as apt for an institutional diversification of the Community jurisdictional system. The article sheds light on the genesis of the CST and the shaping of the set of rules governing its judicial activity. After presenting the status and structure of the CST as a new EU judicial body – notably its composition and trial formations, its jurisdiction and procedural links with the other Community courts – the article deals with the specific procedural rules applicable to the CST and how they are applied, including the aspect of court mediation. There follows a section on scrutiny mechanisms regarding judicial decisions of the CST (appeals to the CFI and further review by the ECJ of appeal decisions, with particular attention to the new concept of ''risk of the unity or consistency of Community law being affected''). The article also attempts to identify some major tendencies in the case law of the CST and in particular that of an extension of both the scope and the standards of judicial control, inter alia by enhanced references to labour law. Finally, the question whether the CST should become a precedent for the establishment of specialized judicial panels in other fields of EU law fields, such as competition (especially mergers) or intellectual property, is discussed.