{b}From Andrew Haslam, independent litigation support consultant, Allvision Computing: www.allvision.co.uk{/b}
1) The long awaited new practice direction with its associated questionnaire,and Lord Jackson’s report into costs will prove to be the final snowballs at the top of the sun-warmed, creaking snowfield of EDD. They will trigger an avalanche of awareness of eDisclosure amongst unprepared law firms (ie the vast majority of them). Some will survive being engulfed, some will come a nasty cropper.
2) His Honour Judge Simon Brown QC will pass down more case law on eDisclosure which will hit lawyers where it hurts most, their pockets.
3) A client, being on the wrong end of the aforementioned judgment from Simon Brown will sue the law firm concerned for unprofessional conduct, and win.
4) The main area of growth will be the provision of commoditised services to mid and small tier law firms.
5) The use of paper, with scanning and coding requirements, will continue and show no signs of abating no matter what suppliers and commentators say.
6) There will be a Case Management Conference where combatitive and hostile litigation lawyers, trained from birth to argue over anything and everything, will indeed have heeded Rule 31.7 CPR and have cooperated on electronic disclosure before they turn up for the meeting.
{b} From Andrew Tibber, Senior Associate, Burges Salmon LLP: www.burges-salmon.com{/b}
Given that money remains too tight to mention, the upward trend in IT litigation looks set to continue as licensors and licensees both try to squeeze more toothpaste out of the tube. Of course the whole issue of costs is also going to come under the microscope when Lord Jackson publishes his report in January, which could lead to significant changes in the economics of litigation in general and e-disclosure in particular. The use of technology in sport (which will require some new sports law) is also likely to be a hot potato – and England will go out of the quarter-finals on penalties …
