Commercial litigation in the Rolls Building courts will be completed within one year of proceedings being issued, under test schemes due to begin on 1 October.
The Shorter Trials Scheme and the Flexible Trials Scheme will apply to claims issued in the Rolls Building courts, including the Commercial Court, the Chancery Division and the Technology and Construction Court. The scheme is aimed at cases that do not require extensive expert evidence or disclosure, and cases can be transferred in or out of the scheme at the judge’s discretion.
Under the schemes, which run for two years, shorter and more flexible procedures will apply. Cases will be managed by docketed judges and trials will last no longer than four days. Parties will be asked to submit shorter bundles with particulars of claim limited to 20 pages and witness statements limited to 25 pages. The court will aim to hand down judgment within six weeks of the trial hearing.
Welcoming the initiative, Abdulali Jiwaji, partner at Signature Litigation, says: “We do need to keep innovating to ensure that the court process offers the flexibility to attract those disputes which might otherwise be lost to arbitration or other jurisdictions, and the scheme is consistent with the messages from the judiciary about the need for parties to streamline their thinking about the issues in a case to better direct pleadings, witness statements and expert evidence.
“But if you look at the exclusions—fraud, heavy disclosure, multiple issues—you wonder what type of case the scheme will be suitable for which is not already catered for by existing summary procedures. That said, a claimant might prefer the guarantee of an early trial date following a faster procedural timetable over the lottery of a summary judgment application, so there will undoubtedly be interest in this.”
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