Lawyers have revealed exactly why they so dislike revised disclosure rules that were intended to increase cooperation and bring down costs.

A survey of 215 firms, solicitors, barristers and judges found that just 19% agreed that the reforms which ushered in Practice Direction 57AD had been a success. Almost two-thirds disagreed that the changes had worked, with barristers most likely to answer this negatively.

The poll, which was trailed earlier this year, was carried out by the judiciary-led disclosure review working group. It will be fed into a consultation on recommendations due out later this year or early 2027.

The working group said the results of the survey point to a disclosure regime under ‘significant pressure’, with practitioners dismayed by a system that can be too elaborate, too expensive and not tailored to the realities of many cases.

Just 13% of respondents favoured keeping the present system but there was an even split over whether to return to  the rules in force before 2022.

The working group stressed that some found advantages in PD57AD through reduced disclosure of irrelevant documents and earlier engagement between parties. But lawyers also identified increased costs, front-loading, disputes over the Disclosure Review Document, disagreement over issues and models for disclosure, satellite disputes, and the difficulty of achieving genuine cooperation in an adversarial process.