The government is neglecting the funding of IT in the civil courts despite repeated assurances that it would not do so - and the system is becoming obsolete, senior judges told an IT conference this week.

Speaking at a conference on the impact of IT on the civil courts, the Master of the Rolls, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, said: 'The sad fact is that we have not yet got funding for an effective system of case management.

The reality is that we were promised jam tomorrow but we were delivered margarine today.'

Lord Justice Brooke - the vice-president of the civil Court of Appeal - said: 'There is a very strong judicial wish for better support than we have at present.

Obsolete filing systems are ineffective and cause injustice.'

Peter Williamson, the Law Society President, said the government should 'think big, start small and scale up quickly' on IT.

He hailed the success of the government's Moneyclaim system - a virtual court for small debts - but said it failed to promote its ideas effectively because Whitehall was not geared to successful marketing.

Mr Williamson added that no clearer image of the problems of failure to invest existed than that of the troubled Commercial Court, which is currently seeking funding for a new building.

He said: 'It is a public disgrace.

There is now a marked increase in the use of alternative jurisdiction clauses by international companies, and in the last ten years there has been a significant drop in international litigation in London.'

The chairman of the Bar Council, Stephen Irwin QC, told the conference that an effective IT system in the civil courts was a prerequisite to maintain London's dominant position as a world-leading international dispute resolution centre.

The conference - staged at the Law Society - was organised by the Society, the London Solicitors Litigation Association and the Bar Council.

Lord Justice Brooke announced that he will stand down as the head of the judiciary's IT liaison committee - and will be replaced by Mr Justice Neuberger - later this year.

Jeremy Fleming