Triumph or Shambles?

According to the Institute of Judicial Administration of Birmingham University Professor Ian Scott has described the new rules as ‘a shambles’. He has argued that ‘the civil justice system faces a long period of muddling through during which time, effort and money will be spent on trying to operate and manage a procedural system that ought to have been got right well in advance of Woolf Day’. ‘Oh no it isn’t’ contends the Lord Chancellor’s Department where one civil servant is quoted as having gone so far as to describe himself as ‘cautiously ecstatic’ about the progress that has been made in the first six months. The report quotes the Vice-Chancellor, in his role as Vice-Chairman of the Civil Justice Council, as saying that the implementation of the reforms has gone well and that optimism that they will deliver their aims is not unreasonable. The courts have not crumbled as some predicted they would. There is early anecdotal evidence that compliance with the pre-action protocols is reducing the number of actions being commenced. There is also evidence that summary assessments of costs are discouraging unnecessary interim applications … In addition judges are using their new case management powers to bring discipline to the progress of cases to trial.