Court and the legal profession

This topic contains information that applies to the civil courts generally, such as links to court guides published by the individual courts and details of fees charged in the civil courts.

For detail of the structure and hierarchy of civil courts in England and Wales, see: Courts and Tribunals Judiciary—Structure of Courts and Tribunals System.

Online dispute resolution and the online court

Lord Justice Briggs, in his Final Report on the Civil Courts Structure Review, which was published on 27 July 2016, recommended the creation of an online court for the resolution of certain disputes. Since that report, there has been much discussion among the judiciary and elsewhere of the concept of online dispute resolution (ODR) and the need for digitisation of the dispute resolution process for civil proceedings in England and Wales.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service embarked on a significant reform programme for the justice system, which included the introduction of schemes to test online court environments.

The Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 also provided for Online Procedure Rules (OPR) to be made to govern practice and procedure of online civil proceedings,

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