Background

From 1 January 2026, the Civil Procedure Rule Committee (‘Committee’) will be piloting access to public domain documents in a number of commercial courts. The Pilot is part of a process implementing the Supreme Court decision in Cape v Dring and the recently published Key Objectives of the Transparency and Open Justice Board.  The Pilot will be implemented under CPR rule 51.2 and the practice direction can be found as part of the 191^st Practice Direction. The Committee has also issued a Guidance Note. 

 

The Pilot

The Pilot will operate:

• From 1 January 2026 to 31^st December 2027,
• In the Commercial Court and London Circuit Commercial Court of the King’s Bench Division and the Financial List (Commercial Court and Chancery Division) (‘Pilot Courts’).

Unless the court makes an order restricting access to the document, expert reports and a range of other documents must be made publicly available once they have been used or referred to at a hearing in public.

 

Advice for expert witnesses

We know that many members are concerned with the possible implications for expert witnesses, including the safety of expert witnesses. The EWI will continue to engage with the Committee, the wider Judiciary and policymakers on our concerns.

Our initial advice for expert witnesses is:

• Especially if you act in cases in the Pilot Courts, ensure you have read the Pilot Practice Direction and the Guidance.
• Be aware that in future the position across civil courts is likely to be that your expert report will have to be made publicly available once it has been used or referred to at a hearing in public.
• Have a discussion with your instructing party about when they intend to first use or refer to your expert report. If you have any concerns about publication, ask them to inform you once the requirement to make the report publicly available has been triggered.
• Have a discussion with your instructing party about how they would like you to deal with any confidential information in your report. 
• Do not include your own personal information, other than as required by the applicable procedural rules, in your expert report or joint statement. For example, do not include your contact details (telephone number, email or physical address) in these documents.
• Be aware that blanket claims of confidentiality may not be accepted by the Court.  
• If you work in a field where you may be subject to media attention or harassment by non-parties because of the nature or contents of your expert report, you may wish to review the personal information you include on social media and other publicly available profiles. 
• The Committee intends to review the Pilot after 6 months of operation. We would appreciate any details of your experiences with the Pilot to inform our engagement with the Committee’s review.
• You can also contact the member helpline with any specific problems you encounter.