Civil procedure changes to be set out at public events

Far reaching proposals that will transform the conduct of civil cases in court will be set out in a series of public meetings over the summer, hosted by the Scottish Civil Justice Council.

Informal, one-hour sessions will be held in courthouses across Scotland to discuss the comprehensive rewrite of the civil procedure rules.

Initial proposals were set out in the SCJC's paper The New Civil Procedure Rules – First Report, published in May, which describes the form and structure of the new rules together with a new case management model for defended cases. The proposed changes will challenge existing ways of working and existing business structures.

The SCJC is currently making arrangements for membership appointments to working groups to take forward some of the work flowing from this report.

Public sessions will provide an opportunity to hear more about the Rules Rewrite Project, the key recommendations in the first report, and plans for the next 12 months, as well as to provide feedback.

“The public’s changed expectations of what services should look like, and how they should work, are key to understanding what fairness will mean in 2020,” the SCJC's chair, the Lord President, Lord Carloway, commented. “The public has become used to services which are increasingly swift and responsive, automated, available anywhere and accessible in a variety of different ways. Platitudes about justice being seen to be done are not a complete response to a generation that sees no unfairness in transacting some of its most important business entirely online.

“The task is an ambitious, but necessary one.”

Dates set are:

25 July: Kirkcaldy
27 July: Glasgow
8 August: Aberdeen Civil Justice Centre
10 August: Airdrie
16 August: Dundee
17 August: Edinburgh
24 August: Stirling
31 August: Paisley

All the events will take place from 4.30-5.30pm in the respective sheriff courts.

Places are limited. You can register to attend by contacting scjc@scotcourts.gov.uk, indicating which session you would like to attend and in what capacity, e.g. solicitor, sheriff clerk, voluntary organisation, member of the public, etc.