Full Report
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Executive Summary
Proposals for Consultation
THE WORKING PARTY
Paras
PART I - THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM
§  
4 - 8
A.
The Civil Justice System
B.
Pressures Felt by Many Civil Justice Systems
§  
9 - 14
B1.
Historically
§  
15 - 22
B2.
Current criticisms of civil justice systems in other jurisdictions
§  
23 - 24
B3.
The main defects identified
§  
25
B4.
The desired characteristics of a civil justice system
§  
26 - 35
B5.
The principal perceived causes of the maladies
§  
36 - 37
C.
Pressures Felt by The Hong Kong System
D.
Expense and The Hong Kong Civil Justice System
§  
38 - 40
D1.
Perception as major barrier to legal access
§  
41 - 51
D2.
Cost of legal services and competitiveness
§  
52 - 57
D3.
Evidence of the expense of litigating in Hong Kong
§  
58 - 60
D4.
The Working Party's figures
§  
61 - 62
D5.
The picture emerging from the taxed bills
§  
63 - 74
(a)
Appendix B Tables 1 to 6, Graphs 1 to 5
§  
75 - 77
(b)
Appendix B Tables 7, 8 and 11 to 14
§  
78 - 80
(c)
Appendix B Tables 9 and 10
§  
81 - 84
(d)
Appendix B Tables 15 to 32
§  
85 - 87
(e)
Appendix B total sums
E.
Delays and The Hong Kong Civil Justice System
§  
88 - 90
E1.
The adverse effects of delay
§  
91 - 92
E2.
The mechanisms of delay
§  
93 - 94
E2.1.
Duration where no defence exists
§  
95 - 98
E2.2.
Causes of delay in contested cases
§  
99
E2.3.
Proceedings commenced for special purposes
§  
100
E3.
The overall picture in relation to delay in Hong Kong
§  
101 - 102
E3.1.
The overall case-load
§  
103 - 108
E3.2.
The level of judicial resources
E3.3.
How cases are disposed of
§  
109 - 110
(a)
Default judgment
§  
111 - 113
(b)
Summary judgment
§  
114 - 116
(c)
Inactive cases
§  
115 - 116
(d)
Cases listed for trial
§  
117 - 123
E3.4.
Waiting-times
§  
124 - 125
E4.
Some conclusions drawn from the Appendix C figures
F.
The Complexity of The Civil Justice System
§  
126 - 128
(a)
Complexity under the
RSC
§  
129 - 133
(b)
Replacing the
RSC
with the
CPR
§  
134 - 138
(c)
The new approach to procedural questions
G.
Unrepresented Litigants
§  
139 - 145
G1.
The challenges generally posed by unrepresented litigants to civil justice systems
§  
146
G2.
Unrepresented litigants in Hong Kong proceedings
§  
147
G3.
The percentage of cases involving unrepresented litigants
§  
148 - 151
G4.
Judiciary's survey of representation at certain hearings
§  
152
G5.
Litigants in person - a substantial call on the system's resources, particularly its bilingual resources
§  
153
G6.
Measures being developed in other jurisdictions towards meeting the needs of unrepresented litigants
§  
154 - 158
G6.1.
Getting representation for litigants in person
§  
159 - 164
G6.2.
"Unbundled legal assistance"
§  
165 - 166
G6.3.
Streaming unrepresented litigants to small claims courts
§  
167 - 172
G6.4.
Encouraging free legal advice and help for unrepresented litigants
§  
173
G6.5.
Getting the court to provide assistance by providing information
§  
174 - 175
G6.6.
Enhancing systems for delivering information and assistance
§  
176
G6.7.
Simplifying the rules, procedures and court forms
§  
177 - 180
G6.8.
Encouraging or requiring unrepresented litigants to use ADR schemes
§  
181 - 183
G6.9.
Training judges and court staff
§  
184 - 187
G7.
Unreasonable litigants abusing the process
PART II - POSSIBLE REFORMS
§  
188 - 189
H.
The Need for Reform
§  
190 - 195
H1.
Coordinated reforms on a broad front
§  
196 - 199
H2.
Reforms and reducing costs
§  
200 - 211
H2.1.
Pre-action protocols and "front-end loading" of costs
§  
212 - 216
H2.2.
Reforms and the legal fees market
§  
217 - 222
I.
The Woolf Reforms As A Useful Framework
§  
223 - 224
J.
The Main Concepts Underlying The Woolf Reforms
J1.
Overriding objective and
CPR
§  
225 - 233
J1.1.
The purpose of the overriding objective
J2.
Case management and the
CPR
§  
234 - 239
J2.1.
Case management: a response to adversarial excesses
§  
240 - 244
J2.2.
Case management: part of the overriding objective of the
CPR
§  
245 - 250
J2.3.
Objections to case management
§  
251 - 256
J2.4.
Case management and costs
§  
257
K.
Possible Reforms In Specific Areas
K1.
Pre-action protocols
§  
258
K1.1.
The problems addressed
§  
259 - 261
K1.2.
The idea behind pre-action protocols
§  
262
K1.3.
Implemented by the
CPR
§  
263 - 266
(a)
Operation of pre-action protocol illustrated
§  
267 - 269
(b)
Non-compliance and the
CPR
§  
270 - 275
K1.4.
Experience of the pre-action protocols
§  
276 - 277
K2.
Mode of commencing proceedings
§  
278
K3.
Disputing the court's jurisdiction
§  
279 - 283
K4.
Default judgments and admissions
K5.
Pleadings and statements of truth
§  
284 - 287
K5.1.
The problems with pleadings
§  
288 - 294
K5.2.
The main responses in the
CPR
§  
295
K5.3.
Requests for further and better particulars
§  
296 - 298
K5.4.
Amendent
K6.
Summary disposal of cases or issues in cases
§  
299 - 300
K6.1.
The changes proposed and their aims
§  
301 - 309
K6.2.
As Implemented
§  
310 - 316
K6.3.
Should the changes be adopted in Hong Kong
§  
317 - 318
K7.
Offers of settlement and payment into court
§  
319 - 321
K7.1.
The main changes effected by Part 36
§  
322 - 323
K7.2.
Operation of Part 36 in practice
§  
324 - 331
K8.
Interim remedies and security for costs
K9.
Case management - timetabling and milestones
§  
332 - 335
K9.1.
The current position in Hong Kong
§  
336 - 338
K9.2.
The need for timetables initiated and supervised by the court
§  
339 - 341
K9.3.
Timetabling and the allocation process under the
CPR
§  
342 - 350
K9.4.
A case management questionnaire and bilingual proceedings
§  
351 - 355
K9.5.
Timetabling and saving costs
§  
356 - 358
K9.6.
Timetabling sanctions and additional resources
§  
359 - 370
K10.
A docket system
§  
371 - 376
K11.
Specialist Lists
§  
377 - 382
K12.
Multi-party Litigation
§  
383 - 387
K12.1.
The main approaches to multi-party litigation
§  
388 - 390
K12.2.
Issues inherent in multi-party litigation
§  
391 - 396
K12.3.
The
CPR
Group Litigation Order provisions
§  
397 - 402
K12.4.
Certain matters not provided for
§  
403
K12.5.
Derivative actions
K13.
Discovery
§  
404 - 407
K13.1.
The nature of the problem
§  
408 - 409
K13.2.
Cutting down the scope of the obligation
§  
410 - 415
K13.3.
Disclosure under the
CPR
§  
416 - 419
K13.4.
The effect of the changes
§  
420 - 425
K13.5.
A different approach
K14.
Interlocutory applications
§  
426 - 429
K14.1.
The problems and countermeasures
§  
430
K14.2.
Reducing the need for interlocutory applications
§  
431 - 432
(a)
Leaving matters to the parties to agree without involvement of the court
§  
433 - 435
(b)
Court acting on own initiative
§  
436 - 441
(c)
Making orders "self-executing"
§  
442
K14.3.
Streamlining interlocutory applications
§  
443
(a)
Dealing with the application on paper
§  
444 - 448
(b)
Skipping the hearing before the master
§  
449 - 450
(c)
Use of telephone and other means of communication
K14.4.
Deterring unnecessary or abusive interlocutory applications
§  
451 - 454
(a)
Summary assessment of costs
§  
455 - 459
(b)
Moving away from "costs follow the event"
§  
460 - 462
(c)
Reaction to summary assessment of costs
§  
463 - 468
K14.5.
Wasted costs orders
§  
469 - 470
K15.
Witness statements
§  
471 - 473
K15.1.
Problems have developed
§  
474 - 479
K15.2.
Greater powers to regulate the evidence
§  
480 - 483
K15.3.
Greater flexibility in the treatment of witness statements
§  
484
K15.4.
Deterring over-elaboration by costs orders
K16.
Expert evidence
§  
485 - 489
K16.1.
The problem
§  
490 - 493
K16.2.
Inappropriate or excessive use of experts
§  
494 - 506
K16.3.
Partisan experts
§  
507 - 509
K16.4.
Single joint experts
§  
510 - 518
K16.5.
How the reforms have been received
§  
519 - 528
K17.
Trials and case management
§  
529
K18.
Appeals
§  
530 - 534
K18.1.
Requiring leave to appeal
§  
535 - 539
K18.2.
The test for granting leave to appeal
§  
540 - 543
K18.3.
Case managing appeals and efficiency
§  
544 - 551
K18.4.
The role of the appellate court and the test for determining appeals
K19.
Costs
§  
552 - 554
K19.1.
The role of costs orders in our present system
§  
555 - 557
K19.2.
A different emphasis in the reforms
§  
558 - 561
K19.3.
Factors contributing to the cost of litigation
§  
562
K19.4.
Costs payable to a party's own lawyers
§  
563 - 575
(a)
Promoting transparency, client control and consumer choice
§  
576 - 583
(b)
Restricting fees by regulation
§  
584 - 598
(c)
Benchmark costs
§  
599
K19.5.
Costs orders in favour of the other side
§  
600 - 604
(a)
Transparency of the other side's costs
§  
605 - 609
(b)
Taxation of costs
§  
610 - 615
(i)
Avoiding taxations
§  
616 - 617
(ii)
Streamlining the process of taxation
§  
618 - 619
(iii)
Improving practice standards in relation to taxations
§  
620 - 622
K20.
The
CPR
Schedules of provisions from the
RSC
K21.
Possible reforms and ADR
§  
623 - 624
K21.1.
Litigation vs ADR
§  
625 - 628
K21.2.
Types of ADR
§  
629 - 636
K21.3.
ADR as an adjunct to court proceedings
§  
637 - 639
K21.4.
Mandatory ADR
§  
640 - 643
(a)
ADR made mandatory by rule
§  
644 - 645
(b)
ADR made mandatory by a court order
§  
646 - 651
(c)
ADR made mandatory by one party electing for ADR
§  
652 - 654
(d)
ADR a condition of granting legal aid
§  
655 - 661
(e)
ADR voluntary but unreasonable refusal posing risk of costs sanction
§  
662 - 665
(f)
Voluntary ADR
§  
666 - 672
K21.5.
Hong Kong's Pilot Scheme for Mediation in Family Cases
§  
673 - 678
K21.6.
Choosing among and implementing the alternatives
§  
679 - 692
L.
Judicial Review
§  
693 - 701
M.
Implementing The Reforms
§  
702 - 707
N.
Resources
§  
708 - 711
N1.
Deployment of resources
§  
712 - 715
N2.
Training
§  
716 - 721
N3.
Information technology
§  
722
N4.
Research
Appendix A - Report on Survey of Litigation Costs
Appendix B - Tables and Graphs
Appendix C