Neuberger calls for judicial consistency

The master of the rolls has called for “greater consistency” in case management among judges to reduce costs in civil litigation. In a speech to the Personal Injuries Bar Association conference in Oxford, Lord Neuberger said case management was still in its infancy here. “Clear guidance needs to be given, and stuck to, by the senior judiciary so that a consistent approach to case management can develop across the entire judicial piece,” he said.

One way to achieve this, he added, was to follow Lord Justice Jackson’s Final Report recommendation and appoint an experienced district judge to sit as an assessor with the Court of Appeal on case management appeals. A consistent approach by the Court of Appeal would be an “effective means” to bring about a change in litigation culture, he added, and a “similarly consistent” approach to such issues as compliance with pre-action protocols, disclosure, expert evidence, the brevity of skeleton arguments and witness handling would have an “equally beneficial effect”.