E-disclosure and its use in family proceedings

Her Honour Nasreen Pearce

Retired Circuit Judge

David Burrows

Solicitor Advocate:

With the current revolution of paperless transactions in professional dealings and the appetite for many documents and correspondence online e-disclosure is developing as a way forward in civil litigation especially where there is a substantial variety of documentation in electronic form. E-disclosure now forms a regular part of the process of disclosure in civil proceedings. Although family proceedings have not been affected as yet with this process it is likely not to be long before cases with more substantial documents are covered by a family law equivalent of PD31B. Until this occurs procedures akin to PD31B may prove a useful tool in family proceedings for example:

• in cases involving international or complex financial transactions;
• in cases of unusual or obscure corporate structures; and
• in other proceedings where large amounts of electronically stored information are involved.

Disclosure is a crucial part of all litigation and one which has to be addressed at the outset. Since electronic documents must be disclosed ...

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