I Introduction

The civil justice system is currently experiencing unprecedented levels of procedural reform, which seek to increase access to justice by controlling high, unpredictable litigation costs2 and reducing the crippling delays in the dispensation of justice. A significant part of the reforms is the government’s £1.4 billion investment to digitise the courts and tribunals service to create an entirely digitised justice system.3 A fundamental component of the digital civil justice system is the integration and enhanced focus on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures to assist in the early settlement of their disputes.4 To reinforce the digital reform agenda, Parliament has also enacted the Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 (the 2022 Act), which, among other things, established the Online Procedure Rule Committee (OPRC)5 which oversees the development of procedural rules for online proceedings across the civil, family, and tribunals jurisdictions. More interestingly, the OPRC’s jurisdiction also extends to the pre-action stage (i.e. pre-court stage) of civil disputes as well as existing and future digital pre-action portals. Given these radical developments, it is unsurprising that the current Master of the Rolls, Sir Geoffrey Vos, enthusiastically remarked that “we are now on the brink of a revolution in dispute resolution. We are no longer fixated on court-based systems, but we are in the process of creating a truly holistic Digital Justice System”.6