The launch of the Amendments to the Civil Procedure Rules has been a shambles, and court users can be forgiven for confusion. We needed decisive leadership at this point, something consistent with the attitude which case managing judges are now supposed to be taking towards those who do not follow the rules. If the execution matches the launch, then we have months of chaos ahead of us. This is not what Lord Justice Jackson intended, and it almost certainly would not have happened if he had not been taken off the scene by illness.
We now have the latest formal amendments to the amendments to the rules, so let’s catch them before they are in turn amended. My focus, here as everywhere else, is on case management as it applies to electronic disclosure and as to the costs estimates which have survived the successful bid for exemptions from the intended new costs management regime (I think perhaps the judges who rebelled against cost management overlooked the quite separate requirement for eDisclosure estimates).
The formal rules and practice directions relevant to case management and eDisclosure are given below, both the current ones and the amendments. Until 1 April, the Rules in force are the 59th Update. Be aware at that the time of writing, CPR internal links to PDs 31A and 31B are to old versions (that is, they have “old” in their urls). The links below are to versions not marked “old”, which I found via Google (as one does). I have not proof-read the one against the other; neither would yet reflect any 1 April updates.
This index is solely to material on the Ministry of Justice site. More follows.
Part 31 CPR–disclosure and inspection of documents
Practice Direction 31A – Disclosure and Inspection
Practice Direction 31B – Disclosure of Electronic Documents
Part 1 CPR–the overriding objective and court’s duty to manage cases
Part 3 CPR – The Court’s case management powers
The 60th Update to the CPR of 1 April 2013 with a helpful summary of the changes
The Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2013
Explanatory memorandum to the Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2013
The Civil Procedure (Amendment No 2) Rules 2013 (the wider costs management exemptions)
Explanatory Memorandum to The Civil Procedure (Amendment) (No 2) Rules 2013
Practice Direction Making Document
There is, as I said above, more to come (though please, no more bloody Amendments) in the form of guidance both formal and informal.
eDisclosure Information Project 