New year, fresh beginnings - Open justice goes online: the new Access to Public Domain Documents Pilot

The Access to Public Domain Documents Pilot (the Pilot) is now live and represents a significant shift in how the principle of open justice is put into practice in the English courts. The public now has easier access to key documents used in open hearings in the English Commercial Court and Financial List. The Pilot runs for two years from the start of 2026, with a review after six months, and if successful will be extended to other courts.

Why the Pilot matters

Until now, very few documents have been available to the public via the court’s online filing system (CE-File): mainly pleadings, judgments and orders. Other documents such as skeleton arguments, written submissions and written evidence had to be requested from the parties. If access was not provided, a requester had to apply to the court and satisfy the requirements set out by the Supreme Court in Cape Intermediate Holdings v Dring [2019] UKSC 38, including showing that granting their request was in the interests of open justice. This often led to cost, expense and delay.

The Supreme Court recognised the need for procedural reform and the Pilot is the most significant response so far. 

What changes under the Pilot?

Parties in the English Commercial Court are now required to upload to the court file specific documents that enter the public domain during a public hearing, in particular skeleton arguments, written submissions, expert reports (with annexes/exhibits) and witness statements and affidavits (without). The window for filing generally lasts two days after the hearing where they were relied on for skeletons and written submissions and 14 days for other documents.

The default position is publication of materials made public at a hearing. These are then made available on the public court file upon payment of a small fee per document. If parties (including third parties) wish to withhold or redact material (most typically because of confidentiality concerns), they need to seek a Filing Modification Order(FMO) before the relevant filing deadline. There is also scope for later requests for FMOs, if, for example, third parties only realise they have been named in evidence after the event. Equally, the parties can agree to make additional documents public, or the judge can order this for documents critical to the understanding of the hearing.

What stays the same?

The Pilot does not alter the existing rules and guidance. Hearings in private are excluded, as are underlying or unfiled documents which are not in the public domain, as well as annexes/exhibits to witness statements (subject to party agreement or the judge regarding them as critical to understanding the hearing). Existing confidentiality orders are not affected, though the court may later decide to vary or set them aside.

What does this mean in practice?

Filing deadlines are short. Parties and their advisers need to think proactively to manage sensitive material before the hearing starts. The likely result of the Pilot is wider and more permanent dissemination of materials used in the English courts.

For media and other non‑parties, access is now easier to obtain and more consistent. This may be of particular interest to academics and those with an interest in specific cases. 

However, such documents only become available from the court file a number of days after they have been referred to in court. Anyone wishing to follow the proceedings in real time (such as journalists) will likely seek to rely on existing means of access. 

Equally, given the desirability of a positive media narrative, we can expect the existing trend of parties providing copies of some of their materials to journalists ahead of the hearing. This is not prevented by the Pilot.

AI, AI, AI

We can expect some to use this more accessible pool of documents for training purposes. With businesses and law firms increasingly using AI tools in their day-to-day work, this will include (subject to copyright) training their in-house AI tools and improving their standard forms and drafting tools.

Such activities are already occurring within the industry, but with easier access comes a greater likelihood of commercial exploitation of these materials to gain a competitive edge in a future where AI use is only going in one direction. 

Key takeaways 

Although the Pilot is limited to a narrow court cohort and only runs until December 2027, it will test the feasibility of more digital, transparent access to court materials. If successful, it could pave the way for broader rollout across the Business and Property Courts.

The Pilot brings open justice into the digital age – but preparation is key. Businesses and their advisers involved in litigation should plan for what now automatically reaches the public domain, reviewing confidentiality strategies and considering early redactions.

What will we see next?

These reforms have been in the pipeline for two years, so progress has been slow-moving. While the Pilot is the most significant step taken in recent times, the UK courts have made other changes to push forward the open justice agenda. Supreme Court and Court of Appeal cases are live-streamed, and the Court of Appeal began a pilot in March 2025 for parties’ skeleton arguments in selected appeals to be available on their website. 

The Supreme Court has been particularly progressive in this area in recent years, with the introduction of its online case portal (designed to be easier for inexperienced users) and making available key events, dates and documents on their online platform for many cases. It publishes the parties’ statements of facts and issues and their written cases on its website ahead of hearings, making it easier for members of the public to follow the advocates’ arguments when they are live-streamed.

We can expect the Pilot to be expanded to other courts, and we may also see an increase in hybrid hearings and even live-streaming of cases in the High Court. Smile for the camera!