A decision on widening non-parties’ access to court documents has been postponed because of the volume of critical responses to a consultation, it emerged this morning. Under the new CPR 5.4C proposed by the Civil Procedure Rule Committee, parties would have to make documents such as skeleton arguments and witness statements – with confidential details redacted – available on request.
A consultation on the proposals closed last month. The Gazette has seen several critical responses from law firms and bodies such as the London Solicitors Litigation Association, which listed five issues requiring ‘much more consideration’, including the potential extra cost to solicitors.
The annual open meeting of the committee this morning heard that 42 responses had been submitted, ‘most of very high quality’, District Judge Paul Clarke reported. More time is needed to digest the responses, he said, so the proposals could not be brought before the committee as planned.
Summarising the tone of the responses, he said: ‘Everyone supports the principle of open justice, but follow it with the word “but”.’
While the proposals require a ‘deep second think’, the intention is to make a decision by the summer vacation, with the new CPR 5.4C to come into force in October.
