Writing in NLJ this week, Nikki Edwards, president of the London Solicitors Litigation Association and partner at Howard Kennedy LLP, welcomes a landmark transparency initiative
From January 2026, a two-year pilot under Practice Direction 51ZH will let the public access skeleton arguments, submissions and witness statements used in Commercial Court hearings via CE-File.
Edwards explains that the scheme, inspired by Cape v Dring, answers the senior judiciary's call for a practical process to obtain court materials already in the public domain. It balances openness with confidentiality through clear filing deadlines and a new 'filing modification order' procedure.
While costs and administrative burdens remain, Edwards hails the pilot as a decisive step toward open courts, open reporting and open documents—transforming theory into practice for modern transparency.
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