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The next Big Bang?

20 November 2009 / Richard Chapman
Issue: 7394 / Categories: Opinion , Costs
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Do you remember Big Bang in April 1999? It heralded the implementation of the civil litigation procedural reforms devised and trailed extensively by Lord Woolf. They were designed to “save expense” and to ensure that cases were dealt with “proportionately”.

Do you remember Big Bang in April 1999? It heralded the implementation of the civil litigation procedural reforms devised and trailed extensively by Lord Woolf. They were designed to “save expense” and to ensure that cases were dealt with “proportionately”.

The Woolf reforms were widely trailed over a period of some four years following the publication of the Interim Report in June 1995, the Final Report being published in July 1996. Do you remember the names of the five assessors who assisted Lord Woolf in the preparation of his Interim and Final Reports? Yes, one was indeed Rupert Jackson QC (as he then was). Annex 3 to the Final Report comprised a summary of the main findings in a survey of litigation costs.

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