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On 26th April 1999, I introduced the most fundamental change to the civil justice system in England and Wales for over 100 years. This first phase of the civil justice reforms introduced a unified code of civil procedure applicable to all civil courts, ending unnecessary distinctions of practice and procedure between the High Court and the county courts. In pursuit of the overriding objective enshrined in Part 1 of the Civil Procedure Rules – that all cases should be dealt with justly – the onus for the management of cases was placed on the courts. A prime mechanism for judicially-led case management was the introduction of three tracks – the small claims track, the fast track and the multi-track – to which each defended case is to be allocated by the court, with the choice of track tailored to the circumstances of individual cases. A number of other new provisions, including those dealing with expert evidence, claimants' offers to settle and summary assessment of costs, combined with the introduction of pre-action protocols and the requirement for reasonable pre-action behaviour in all cases, provided a package designed to bring about a change in dispute resolution culture. It should reduce the adversarial nature of the process and ensure that disputes are settled at the earliest possible just opportunity. Almost 9 months in to the new system, I am pleased to report that the early signs are very good. With such radical change, it will, of course, be many months yet before I can be certain that the objectives of the reforms will be achieved on a permanent basis. Nevertheless, representatives from all parts of the system, including judges and legal professionals are telling me, for example, that cases are settling earlier; and that claimant and defendant representatives are more ready to talk than spar. This augurs well at such an early stage. In the first edition of this publication, I acknowledged the great collective effort that had brought the reforms to the dawn of their introduction. I extended my thanks in particular to Lord Woolf, the Master of the Rolls, Sir Richard Scott, the Vice-Chancellor, the members of the Civil Procedure Rule Committee, and others who had played a key role. I redouble those thanks now, for work has continued in the intervening period, not just to support the implementation process, but to review the materials and amend them where necessary to support continuous improvement of the process. And, of course, 26th April 1999 was only the first phase. 2nd May 2000 will see the commencement of a number of new rules, in particular those governing civil appeals. Yet more will follow in the months ahead. We must continue to be proactive, not reactive, in pursuit of continuous improvement to a system which exists to serve. The Right Honourable the Lord Irvine of Lairg, the Lord Chancellor

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