The BCCI working party last week (6 December) announced that long trials should have statements of case limited, but on the whole it believes the current civil procedure rules (CPR) are already sufficient.
The working party was set up last January following criticism of excesses, such as Gordon Pollock QC’s 80-day opening statement in the BCCI supercase.
The report recommended that statements of case should not exceed 25 pages in length without the permission of the court and that no two-party trial, however complex, should be listed for more than 13 weeks.
The report proposed that opening arguments should not exceed 50 pages and two days. The two-day limit should also be imposed for oral closing arguments, with the court directing on a page limit for written closing arguments.
The recommendations put by the working party, which was chaired by Mr Justice Aikens, have been adopted by the Commercial Court judges and the Committee of Users of the Commercial Court.
