Reform is in the air. Our new Master of the Rolls and Birss LJ, the Deputy Head of Civil Justice, have both delivered speeches which are identical in tone. The latter in a talk about ‘The online future of civil justice’ delivered to Fordham Law School, New York in April went so far as to declare where we will be in 2026.
Every case will be started online. There will be no exception made for the ‘digitally disadvantaged’. Help will be provided to assist them with compliance, we are assured.
Every case will be managed online, leaving masters and district judges more isolated and lonely than ever. Service of documents will be entirely electronic too: ‘We are working on that now.’
Sir Geoffrey Vos gave the keynote speech on 10 May as part of London International Disputes Week. He too spoke of online activity with an emphasis upon pre-litigation protocols designed to nip problems in the bud. As predicted in my first column
