header-logo header-logo

Benefit & burden

15 July 2010 / Steven Friel , Caroline Bell
Issue: 7426 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice
printer mail-detail

Steven Friel & Caroline Bell discuss the changing nature of disclosure in civil procedure

We live in a technological age where there are many different forms of electronic communication and voluminous quantities of data are produced, exchanged and stored by electronic means. This can be a benefit and a burden to parties complying with their disclosure obligations in civil litigation.
Documents can make or break a case in more ways than one. They can make a case by the evidential weight they bring to bear; many a litigator lies awake at night dreaming of the smoking gun. Equally, documents can break a case with the financial strain disclosure brings to the costs of litigation. These points are particularly apt when it comes to electronic documents. There are many new and innovative e-disclosure tools on the market that greatly assist in complex cases, for example large scale commercial fraud. However, these tools, which are gradually becoming more and more necessary to the way in which we handle complex cases, come at a price, and many

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
back-to-top-scroll