header-logo header-logo

Disclosure reform important post-Brexit

28 November 2017
Categories: Legal News , Brexit , Budgeting
printer mail-detail

The rules on disclosure must be reformed if Britain is to retain its global status as a legal hub post-Brexit, litigators say.

Our civil courts are facing increased competition from courts and tribunals overseas, ‘who regard the Brexit vote as “Christmas come early”,’ Ed Crosse, President of the London Solicitors Litigation Association (LSLA) told lawyers at the LSLA annual dinner last week.

He emphasised that reform of the Civil Procedure Rules, and the disclosure regime in particular, are central to maintaining the world-leading status of courts in England and Wales.

Earlier this month, a working group of senior judges and practitioners, including Crosse, published a draft Practice Direction on disclosure in the business and property courts—interested parties have until 28 February 2018 to comment on it.

‘The working group started out with the modest intention of putting Part 31 [of the Civil Procedure Rules] into a wind tunnel, to see which bits could be stripped away to achieve greater speed and efficiency, but in fact, what we ended up doing was completely re-writing the rule.

‘The proposed rules will, if accompanied by a change in culture and behaviours by the profession and judiciary, materially contribute to a more efficient and effective administration of civil justice. That, in turn, may help to mitigate some of the challenges that our civil justice system is now facing as a result of Brexit and, in particular, increased competition from courts and tribunals overseas.’

Speaking at the launch of the working group’s draft Practice Direction, Sir Terence Etherton, Master of the Rolls, said: ‘Disclosure is one of the key procedural stages in most evidence-based claims.

‘It is imperative that our disclosure system is, and is seen to be, highly efficient and flexible, reflecting developments in technology. Having effective and proportionate rules for disclosure is a key attraction of English law and English dispute resolution in international markets.’   

Categories: Legal News , Brexit , Budgeting
printer mail-details

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Jersey litigation lead appointed to global STEP Council

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

Firm invests in future talent with new training cohort

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
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
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
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
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