The Civil Procedure Rules (‘the Rules’) are used to ensure cases are dealt with fairly by the Court of Appeal, High Court of Justice and County Courts in civil cases in England and Wales.
Until recently, the Rules have been available on the Justice.GOV website. Contained in one document, they were easy to navigate thanks to an electronic index that clearly outlined each part or practice direction and what area of law it relates to.
Recently, the Rules were re-located to the GOV.UK website, meaning they’re stored alongside the related document. However, the move has not been seamless. At best, the current layout of the Rules is impractical. At worst, it is inscrutable for users who are not familiar with the content, particularly those who don’t have professional representation when making a civil claim.
Rather than being contained in one document, the Rules are now split into five parts, with an average of 20 rules and practice directions in each, seemingly without reason. In the absence of an electronic index, there is no way for users to identify quickly what each rule is related to. For litigants in person (LiPs), this presents a barrier to accessing justice and an avoidable one too.
The change in format and location also leads to problems with electronic bundles (the organised collection of electronic copies of documents for use in court hearings). Links to specific Rules will no longer be correct, meaning users will not be redirected correctly. Although this may sound to be merely a small nuisance for lawyers, in reality, it will cause further delays in a Court system already saddled with a significant case backlog.
The backlash from the legal community has led to an urgent review from Lord Wolfson of Tredegar QC into the layout of the Rules. He has now confirmed there will be a temporary removal of the redirect from the Justice.GOV site in an attempt to alleviate the access to justice issue, at least in the short term.
The Rules need to be presented in a format that is as logical and accessible to everyone as possible. Given both the Family and Criminal Procedure Rules are soon to be relocated to GOV.UK as well, we must hope the same mistake is not made again. We look forward to an update from Lord Wolfson next week.
Author: Jamie Noble, ACSO secondee and trainee solicitor at Minster Law.