It was revealed by a survey carried out by National Consumer Council how unhappy and unsatisfactory people were with the Civil Justice System. The main weaknesses identified were that the system being too slow, too complicated for ordinary people to understand and too outdated and costly. In the continued criticism of the system Lord Woolf was appointed by the government who came up with suggestions and solutions to overcome these problems. As a result Civil Procedure Rules came into force on 26th April 1999 introducing different reforms to the system. The rationale of the reforms was to avoid litigation and promote settlement between the parties at dispute. Among the most popular reforms were, Pre-Action Protocols, Part36, Judicial Case management and Alternative Dispute Resolution. The overriding objective of the reforms as introduced by Lord Woolf was enabling courts to deal with the cases justly and proportionately.
Pre-Action protocols can be considered as one of the most significant innovations of Woolf Reforms. The purpose of these is to encourage exchange of early information about the claim so that litigation is avoided. Starting from just two now there are several protocols established is a sign that these have been effective and successful. Strict timetables are followed by them and whichever party who fail to comply with the protocol rules will be penalized. Part 36 is another element of the Woolf Reforms which gives the parties of the claim an opportunity to