The latest amendments to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) proposed by the Civil Procedure Rules Committee (CPRC) go further in demonstrating its desire to create a more modern, streamlined set of rules.
The CPR provide the backbone to the civil justice system. They took effect on 26 April 1999 with the general aim of improving timeliness, certainty and fairness within the civil justice system.
To this end, the CPRC's current attention is focused on removing unnecessarily wordy content and duplicated information from the CPR.
The CPRC has also adopted gender-neutral pronouns in order to promote gender equality and make the CPR more aligned with the age in which we live.
These changes could be seen as trivial by some, as the current aim of the CPRC is to consolidate rather than to propose substantive change to the CPR.
Nevertheless, with litigants in person (LiPs) likely to be on the increase (due to the introduction of the Official Injury Claim portal, for example) one cannot help but feel the changes like these will improve individuals' sense of inclusivity and their overall access to justice.
Author: Jack Normington, Trainee Solicitor at Fletchers Solicitors and ACSO secondee.