Disclosure Pilot In The Business And Property Courts

Following a lengthy period of review and consultation, the long-awaited Disclosure Pilot Scheme will come into effect from 1 January 2019.

This will require substantial changes to how parties and their representatives approach disclosure in both new and existing claims across the Business and Property Courts.

Origins of the Pilot

In May 2016, the Chancellor of the High Court, Sir Terence Etherton, now the Master of the Rolls, established a Working Group in response to widespread concerns regarding the excessive scale and costs of disclosure.

The Working Group reported that, while the Jackson reforms in 2013 had introduced a menu of options for disclosure as set out at CPR 31.5(7), both lawyers and judges had failed to utilise those options with Standard Disclosure remaining the default. As a result "large amounts of wholly irrelevant documents [had often been produced] leading to a considerable waste of time and costs". The existing Rule 31 was also