Improving Access to Civil Justice

Last updated 25 February 2025

Quick links to the Improving Access to Civil Justice Report of November 2022 and to documents involved in consultation can be found at the bottom of this page.

What is the Improving Access to Civil Justice project?

The Rules Committee began work on its improving access to civil justice in 2019. The project’s inception came about after the Committee became concerned that there is an increasingly unmet need for civil justice in New Zealand.   A growing number of unrepresented litigants were coming before the Courts, including many litigants who cannot afford legal representation.  The Committee has been told that it is not cost-effective to bring a claim worth less than $100,000 to trial in the District Court.  At the other end of the market, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, such as arbitration, continue to grow in popularity, suggesting some commercial parties may not consider the courts fit-for-purpose as a dispute resolution forum.

The rules that govern how cases are heard in the District Court and the High Court are meant to ensure cases are dealt with in a just, speedy, and inexpensive way. These trends in civil ligation indicate the rules as they stand may not be achieving these goals.  In particular, the requirements of civil procedure may often be disproportionate to the amount in dispute and the complexity of a dispute.  All citizens have a fundamental right to access to the courts.  Economic barriers to their doing so must be minimised as far as possible, while ensuring justice is done in each case by ensuring all relevant evidence is before the Court are parties are fairly heard.

2020: Initial consultation

To address these concerns, the Committee undertook an initial consultation in 2020 with the wider public through a consultation paper that was widely circulated. The consultation engaged the wider community, including leaders of community groups and members of the public.  It felt it was important for all interested members of the community to be able to tell the Committee what they thought “justice being done” meant when they came to court to resolve their civil disputes.  It asked submitters to comment on specific suggestions for reforms, as set out in a discussion paper (summarised on the initial consultation page), as well as broader questions about what barriers submitters felt stood in the way of access to civil justice. The specific reforms addressed were:

  1. Introducing short-form trial procedures;
  2. Introducing a process influenced by inquisitorial systems where the judge would have a more active role in identifying the issues in dispute, fact-finding and managing the hearing of the case;
  3. Introducing a requirement that civil claims be commenced by a process akin to an application for summary judgment; and
  4. Streamlining current trial processes by changing the rules to reduce the complexity and length of civil proceedings.

Members of the public were also aided by some explanations of the discussion paper's topicsThe Committee received 46 submissions in response to its initial consultation. Submitters were in general agreement that there are significant problems with access to civil justice in New Zealand, that any effective response must change the culture of litigation practice as well as the rules, that greater proportionality is needed, and that greater judicial engagement is desirable. 

In September 2020, the Committee agreed to establish a sub-committee to consider the submissions in detail, made up of Winkelmann CJ, Kós P (as he then was), Thomas and Cooke JJ, and Judges Taumaunu and Kellar.  The sub-committee produced an Executive Summary of submissions and, in March 2021, a report suggesting a path forward in light of the submissions. 

2021–2022: Second consultation and Improving Access to Civil Justice Report

In 2021, the Committee undertook a second round of consultation through a widely released second consultation paper. This consultation came about in light of the response to the initial consultation and fresh consideration of the approach taken to pre-trial action protocols in England and Wales, which led to the Committee considering several options for reform that were not canvassed in its initial consultation and discussion papers.  The consultation paper set out these options, many of which would require the amendment of primary legislation.  Broadly, the options were:

  1. to expand the role of the Disputes Tribunal by increasing its jurisdiction to hear disputes;
  2. to reform the District Court to improve its structural ability to deal with civil claims; and
  3. to reform procedures in the High Court to streamline its processes.

The Committee received 59 submissions from a wide range of court users. It prepared an executive summary of submissions. Its consideration of the submissions contributed to a large-scale piece of work setting out its conclusions and recommendations: its November 2022 Report on Improving Access to Civil Justice.  The Report’s conclusions and recommendations included:

  1. Recommending the jurisdiction of the Disputes Tribunal be increased so it can hear disputes of a higher monetary value. Appeal rights for higher value awards would also be expanded to ensure proportionality between the importance of those rights and the importance to parties of the claims being determined.
  2. Recommending improving the institutional capabilities of the District Court’s civil jurisdiction by creating a separate civil division and appointing a Principal Civil District Court Judge. It would also involve strengthening the expertise of the Court’s civil registry and appointing specialist part-time judges to deal with civil cases.
  3. Recommending amendments to the Evidence Act 2006 and significant changes to civil procedure in the High Court.

2022–2023: Third consultation

In late 2022, the Committee engaged in a third, limited, round of consultation with previous submitters asking for feedback on its proposals as outlined in its Report and the process for implementing the proposals that were within the Committee’s powers. The Committee received several submissions and created an executive summary of submissions. 

From early 2023, the Committee focussed on the changes to the High Court Rules that would give effect to its Report. A sub-committee was formed that was tasked with proposing specific rule changes to implement the recommendations in the Report.  Through that process, the sub-committee conducted research into the civil procedure regimes in New South Wales and other Australian states, as well as wider consultation with stakeholders.

In 2024, the Committee created a document entitled “Drafting Instructions for changes to the High Court Rules” that went to Parliamentary Counsel Office, which then drafted proposed amendments to the High Court Rules. The proposed amendments would introduce a new, simpler default civil procedure by introducing proportionality as a key principle, introducing mandatory judicial issues conferences, and reducing the amount of evidence before the parties and the Court — by, for example, lessening discovery obligations.

2024: Fourth consultation

In August 2024, the Committee then engaged in a fourth round of limited consultation on the details of the proposed amendments.  The Committee's broad policy decisions had already been made and the Committee did not reconsider them.  Submissions were sought on the details of the proposed amendments rather than the broad policy decisions.

The Committee received 11 submissions.  Its sub-committee produced a memorandum in response which the Committee considered in its next review of the proposed rules.

Next steps

The Committee’s proposed changes to the High Court Rules are now near final. They will commence on 1 January 2026.  Before then, the Committee will carry out wide-scale education to practitioners and judges through road shows and similar.

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Quick links: the consultations

As described above, the Rules Committee has carried out several consultations with the professional and broader community.  More information about each of those consultations — including submissions received, executive summaries of submissions received and, where they were used, consultation and discussion papers — can be found by clicking through the links below.

The Committee is very grateful to all submitters, and is especially grateful for the time and energy that each submission represents.

Initial consultation (2019–2020)

The initial consultation asked submitters what barriers they perceived there to be standing in the way of meaningful access to justice and what ideas they had for the Committee to address those barriers. Submissions in response to the consultation paper closed in September 2020.  

Second consultation (2021)

The second consultation sought views on the response to submissions received in the initial consultation as proposed by the sub-committee in its report, above.  The proposals would recommend overarching reform, including reform that would require changes not within the Committee's power to implement.  Submissions closed on 2 July 2021.

Third consultation (2022–2023)

The third consultation was limited and only sought views from previous submitters on the final proposals made in the Committee's Improving Access to Civil Justice report, published in November 2022.

Fourth consultation (2024)

The fourth consultation sought views on the Committee's proposed changes to civil procedure in the High Court Rules 2016.  The consultation was limited and only sought views from previous submitters. 

The documents provided for consideration were:

The Rules Committee considered all submissions at its meeting of 30 September 2024:

  • A compilation of the submissions can be found here
  • A memorandum from the Access to Justice sub-committee, comprising Justice Cooke and Daniel Kalderimis KC, can be found here
  • The Committee's discussion of the submissions and memorandum can be found at Item 3a of the minutes of its 30 September 2024 meeting.

Quick links: the November 2022 report

  

  Rules Committee Report on Improving Access to Civil Justice 
  (PDF, 1.8 KB)