New rules to govern disclosure of documents in litigation before the English courts were unveiled yesterday, having been approved by the Civil Procedure Rule Committee on 13 July. The rules will be subject to a two-year pilot in the Business… Read more

In a recent High Court decision, the court expressed concerns regarding the claimants' computer assisted disclosure review and ordered them to carry out a manual review of a substantial number of documents that had been excluded from review on the… Read more

Late last year, a disclosure working group chaired by Lady Justice Gloster published proposals for disclosure reform, including a completely new rule to govern the disclosure of documents in English litigation. The proposals are subject to consultation until the end of… Read more

In a recent decision, a High Court Master has taken a broad view of the documents that should be made available to a non-party where a case settled after trial: Dring v Cape Distribution Limited [2017] EWHC 3154 (QB). The… Read more

We are pleased to publish the second issue of our periodic publication "Cross-Border Litigation", designed to highlight legal and practical issues specific to litigation with an international aspect. Tapping into the expertise of the firm's leading commercial litigators across the globe, the… Read more

A disclosure working group set up last year, chaired by Lady Justice Gloster, yesterday published its proposals for reforms to the rules governing disclosure of documents in English litigation. The proposals are subject to consultation with a view to setting… Read more

The High Court has recently considered what amounts to use of disclosed documents for a collateral purpose contrary to CPR 31.22: Grosvenor Chemicals Ltd v UPL Europe Ltd [2017] EWHC 1893 (Ch). Important takeaways from this decision are as follows:… Read more

The Court of Appeal has recently ordered an English law firm which acted for trusts governed by Bahamian law to comply with a subject access request made by certain trust beneficiaries under section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998: Dawson-Damer… Read more

The High Court has recently considered the restrictions on collateral use of documents and witness statements disclosed in proceedings, and has provided guidance on what constitutes "use" in this context: Robert Tchenguiz and Another v Grant Thornton UK LLP and… Read more

In a decision handed down today, the High Court has applied the much-criticised Court of Appeal decision in Three Rivers No 5 to find that interviews conducted by a bank's solicitors with its employees were not covered by legal advice… Read more

On Tuesday 18 October (12noon - 1.00pm UK time) we will present the first in a new series of webinars for Herbert Smith Freehills clients and contacts, focussing on the issues that arise in litigating cross border disputes. In this webinar: Larry… Read more

In a recent decision, the Commercial Court found that it did not have jurisdiction to permit service out of the jurisdiction in respect of an application for Norwich Pharmacal relief, ie an application requiring a third party who had been… Read more

A recent High Court decision confirms that the court can order a re-review of disclosure by an independent lawyer, although "strong grounds" are required to justify such an "unusual order": Vilca & 21 Others v Xstrata Limited & another [2016]… Read more

In a recent decision, the Court of Appeal has clarified the approach to be taken in determining whether the court should allow inspection of a document "mentioned" in a witness statement or statement of case: Blue Holdings (1) PTE Ltd &… Read more

The High Court has ordered disclosure to be carried out using predictive coding despite a party's objections to the use of the technology: Brown v BCA Trading Limited [2016] EWHC 1464 (Ch). This is understood to be the first reported decision in… Read more

A decision of the English High Court handed down yesterday has expressly approved the use of predictive coding (also known as technology assisted review) for a large disclosure exercise: Pyrrho Investments Limited & Anr v MWB Property Limited and Others… Read more

In a recent decision, the High Court refused to allow defendant accountants and business advisers to withhold documents from inspection on the basis of confidentiality: Harlequin Property (SVG) Ltd and Another v Wilkins Kennedy [2015] EWHC 3050 (TCC). The documents in question… Read more

Important changes to the US Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), which govern the conduct of civil proceedings in US federal district court, will take effect on 1 December 2015 (absent US Congressional action, which appears unlikely). While various amendments… Read more

The High Court has held that claimant liquidators were in breach of an "unless order" for disclosure where the low quality of OCR copies of scanned hard copy documents, to which key word searches had been applied to narrow down the pool of… Read more

In a recent decision, the High Court ordered disclosure of the defendant's insurance arrangements in the context of a personal injury claim where the claimant sought an order for periodical payments: Senior v Rock UK Adventure Centres [2015] EWHC 1447… Read more

A recent decision of the High Court in the Republic of Ireland has endorsed the use of predictive coding for a disclosure exercise, rejecting the opposing party's insistence on a linear manual review of all the keyword responsive documents and… Read more

The High Court has ordered a party to litigation to allow the inspection of an attachment to a Deferred Prosecution Agreement entered into with the US Department of Justice in relation to the alleged manipulation of LIBOR rates, where the… Read more

The Commercial Court has ordered a company to disclose documents in the hands of third parties (an individual and another company in the same group) on the basis that those parties exercised control over the company for the purpose of… Read more

The High Court has granted a seller's application to inspect certain documents of its former subsidiaries pursuant to a contractual term requiring the buyer to grant "reasonable access" to the relevant companies' books, records and documents: Alfa Finance Holding AD v Quarzwerke GmbH [2015] EWHC… Read more

Joe Falcone has published an article in Financier Worldwide addressing proposed amendments to the US Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which govern civil cases in US federal court. If adopted, these amendments should narrow significantly the historically broad scope of… Read more

The Court of Appeal has held that claimant liquidators were in breach of an "unless order" for e-disclosure, overturning the High Court's decision that there was no breach despite the mistaken omission of certain important categories of documents from the list: Smailes v… Read more

In a judgment given yesterday (26 November) the majority of the Supreme Court has expressed the view that the strength of a party's case on the merits is generally irrelevant to enforcement of the court's case management directions, save perhaps where… Read more

Gregg Rowan, Celina McGregor, Johan Botha and Lyn Harris have published an article in the November edition of PLC Magazine which looks at the impact of the Jackson reforms on e-disclosure and how parties can seek to control the costs of the… Read more

The Court of Appeal has confirmed that the court's jurisdiction to order pre-action disclosure is not subject to an "arguability threshold". The strength of the applicant's case on the merits, and in particular whether the applicant is able to show… Read more

A recently published decision of the High Court demonstrates that a court will examine closely whether a document comes within the test for standard disclosure. References to the document in another disclosed document will not be sufficient, nor is it… Read more