Respondents praise pre-action protocol on judicial review

Respondents to a draft pre-action protocol for use in judicial review cases have given it overwhelmingly support.The majority of the 60 respondents also said that those applying late for judicial review under the terms of a protocol ought to be allowed to pursue their cases only subject to the discretion of the court.Most respondents rejected proposals to include an automatic reference to alternative dispute resolution (ADR) within the protocol.

A third of respondents could not identify examples of judicial review cases in which ADR would be suitable.The protocol will be published in final form in the December update to the Civil Procedure Rules, and will come into effect on 4 March 2002.Jeremy Fleming