What the new High Court Case Management Regime will mean for clients

Amendments to the existing High Court Rules will come into effect on 1 January 2026, changing the way we conduct litigation. This article breaks down the objectives of the new rules, details the main changes and makes some predictions about what this will ultimately mean for clients.

The High Court (Improved Access to Civil Justice) Amendment Rules 2025 introduce a proportionality test as the overriding objective for the resolution of any proceeding and impose a duty of cooperation on parties and their solicitors to achieve that objective. Ultimately it is hoped that these changes will reduce cost and lead to the earlier resolution of disputes

The main changes intended to achieve these objectives are:

1. New disclosure regime:
   (1). Disclosure is to be provided at the beginning with a party’s initial pleading.
   (2). The scope of disclosure is narrower than the current discovery regime, requiring only the disclosure of:

1. 1. 1. Documents referred to in the pleading;
      2. Principal documents used to prepare the pleading;
      3. Additional documents relied on by that party; and
      4. All adverse documents.

2. Briefs of evidence will be replaced by witness statements. Factual witness statements are to be served within 25 days of service of last pleading by the plaintiff. They are not to be a recital of documents and should be in the witness’ own words.
3. The First Case Management Conference will be replaced with an Issues Conference, for which the parties must file detailed position papers and be ready to discuss and resolve outstanding issues (such as the need for expert evidence and disputes relating to disclosure).
4. Witness statements will not need to refer to documents intended to form part of a party’s case. Instead, they must be included in a chronology which sets out material facts relied on by each party. This must be filed at the same time as each party’s witness statements.

The effect of the new regime will be to front-load the work required in bringing or defending proceedings. Instead of potentially waiting months to exchange discovery, and years for briefs of evidence, all the work of disclosure and witness statements must be completed from the outset:

1. Plaintiff parties will need to have their disclosure ready when filing. They then need to serve witness statements and a chronology within 25 working days of receiving the statement of defence.
2. Defendants will have 25 working days from receiving the claim to provide disclosure. They then need to serve witness statements and a chronology within 45 working days of receiving the plaintiff’s evidence.

Plaintiffs will be required to undertake more work and incur more legal cost at the outset (including the costs of e-discovery and document processing solutions). Defendants will need to act quickly once they are served with a proceeding.

The drafters of these new Rules hope they will lead to parties being ready to proceed to ADR within four months of a claim being filed, with all the factual evidence exchanged, with opportunities for earlier resolution of disputes rather than waiting years for a trial date.

It remains to be seen how the Courts will supervise implementation of the new Rules, and whether they will have the intended effect.

This publication is intended as a general overview and discussion of the content dealt with. It should not be used in any specific situation, in which case you should seek specific legal advice.