With the introduction of new disclosure provisions in the High Court Rules, we’ve updated our system to reflect the new terminology and approach. Here’s the most notable changes:
“Discovery” is now “disclosure”
- The term discovery has been changed to disclosure.
- This means:
- “Discovery lists” become disclosure lists;
- “Discoverable documents” become disclosable documents;
- The “Discovery tab” becomes the Disclosure tab, etc.
Disclosure list tranches & labels
- Each set of disclosure lists (open, privileged, and confidential) now has a customisable tranche number and label.
- This replaces the previous 1st supplementary, 2nd supplementary, etc naming convention (though you can still rename them to that if preferred, and existing lists keep their old names).
- For new repositories, the first set of disclosure lists is labelled “Initial disclosure” by default (you can change this if needed).
- For new repositories, the list number includes the tranche number by default. For example:
- First tranche (typically, initial disclosure): ABC.01.0001, ABC.01.0002 …
- Second tranche: ABC.02.0001, ABC.02.0002 … etc.
- But if you prefer not to use tranche numbers, you can simply change the list settings and use a different option.
Flexibility when locking lists
When locking a set of disclosure lists, you can now:
- Lock all three lists in the set (open, privileged, confidential); or
- Selectively lock just one or two lists, and leave the other(s) unlocked and carried over into the next set/tranche.
For example, you might lock the open list – allowing the open documents to be produced – while holding the privileged & confidential documents over to the next tranche pending further review.
Disclosure categories
- The new rules remove references to tailored discovery. However, the feature remains in the system, now called disclosure categories.
- They remain functionally the same (and optional), and continue to be a useful way to track the basis for a document’s disclosability.
Non-disclosure categories
- When marking a document as not disclosable, you can now optionally assign a non-disclosure category.
- This makes it easier to record & view the reasons that certain documents are not being disclosed.
Transition
These changes apply to existing and new projects, but you don’t need to do anything different. All previous functionality remains in place, so you can continue working as you have been.
We’re also working on additional features and enhancements, and look forward to sharing those with you over the next few months.
If you have any questions or feedback on these changes, we’d be very pleased to hear from you. As always, please contact us for any support requests.
Thank you
The LawFlow Team