The Disclosure Review Working Group has revealed that it intends to develop proposals to simplify the disclosure regime in the Business and Property Courts.

As we discussed previously here, the Group launched a review at the end of last year to consider the effectiveness of changes to the disclosure regime, introduced in 2022.

The review sought views from those who have worked under the regime to get their views on how well it has achieved its stated goals of (i) saving costs, (ii) improving the accuracy of disclosure, (iii) reducing the burden on the courts of resolving issues of disclosure, and (iv) promoting a culture change of more cooperation between litigants. It also addressed the use of technology, asking whether there is a case for the mandatory use of Technology Assisted Review (TAR) or AI tools where a dataset exceeds a certain number of documents.

Responding to the results of the survey, the Group has stated that whilst there was recognition that the new regime had introduced some helpful reforms, the “majority of respondents did not agree with the statement that the reforms in PD 57AD had been a success. Concerns were expressed that the regime had led to increased costs, had increased the burden on the courts, and had not achieved a culture change involving greater cooperation between the parties. The majority of respondents considered that changes were necessary”.

As a result, the Group has expressed its preliminary view that “simplification of the existing regime under PD 57AD is desirable” and has expanded its membership to “look at proposals to be made to the Civil Procedure Rules Committee to achieve that aim”.

Any proposals will be consulted upon in due course. In the meantime, those wishing to make any comments at this stage are encouraged to contact the Group directly here.

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