As regular observers of court proceedings, our experience is that the public access rights which flow from the principle of open justice are not always a practical reality. The most frequent and frustrating challenge we encounter in this regard relates to our requests for non-party access to court documents. We make almost weekly requests for documents across a range of courts and tribunals, including various divisions of the High Court and the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal. This encompasses requests submitted via CE-File, enquiries to court staff, informal requests made in person or by email to barristers and their instructing solicitors, and letters to the court seeking the supply of certain documents.
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