Disclosure

A Chancery master has criticised the “verbal brawl” into which a landlord and tenant dispute has descended and said the conduct of the case showed why the disclosure pilot was necessary.

The new disclosure rules – potentially lowering the cost of the process – may encourage more partnership disputes to lead to litigation, a specialist solicitor has suggested.

A High Court judge has strongly criticised a City partner who gave a journalist a copy of a witness statement made in support of an application for pre-action disclosure.

A party’s claim to legal advice privilege over two internal emails has been rejected by the High Court, which has also ordered a privileged document disclosed by mistake destroyed.

The Civil Procedure Rule Committee has given its final approval to the two-year disclosure pilot scheme for cases in the Business & Property Courts. Subject to ministerial approval, the pilot will commence on 1 January 2019.

Civil Procedure Rules Committee last week gave its ‘in principle’ approval to the disclosure working group’s proposals being piloted next year, it has emerged. The pilot will operate from 1 January 2019 in the Business and Property Courts and last for two years.

Witness statements are likely to be the next focus for reform after disclosure, the new president of the London Solicitors Litigation Association has predicted. Julian Acratopulo, head of international commercial litigation at Clifford Chance, said that, like disclosure, both lawyers and the judiciary were ready to reconsider the current system.

The City law firm that won the first contested application to use predictive coding as part of a substantial document review exercise has proclaimed the exercise a success and a precursor to its wider use after its client won.

The Law Society has warned that radical disclosure reforms, due to be piloted in the Business and Property Courts this autumn, could lead to important documents not coming to light and “increase the risk of miscarriages of justice”.

Professional negligence claims will become harder to handle under the new approach to disclosure which will be piloted later this year in the Business & Property Courts, particularly for defendants, a barrister has warned. She identified front-loading of costs, imbalance between the parties, and disclosure of adverse documents as potential problems.