Looking ahead to Dispute Resolution in 2026

2026 is shaping up to be a busy year with a number of important changes due to be implemented by new legislation. In this article we take a look at a few of the changes affecting Litigation and Dispute Resolution.

Making court documents publicly available

In our ‘Looking ahead to Dispute Resolution in 2025’ article, we anticipated that the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) Committee would give non-parties to litigation greater access to court documents, without the need to make an application to the court.

This has come to fruition in the form of the Access to Public Domain Documents Pilot under CPR Practice Direction 51ZH, which will apply in both new and existing proceedings in the Commercial Court and the Financial List (except where a party is unrepresented and has not used CE-File before) and will be in place from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2027.

The following documents are now ‘Public Domain Documents’ (PDDs), meaning that they must be filed on the public side of CE-File:

• Skeleton arguments
• Written opening and closing submissions
• Other written submissions provided to a judge and relied upon at a hearing
• Witness statements and affidavits (not including documents appended or annexed)
• Expert reports (including annexes and appendices)
• Any other documents critical to the understanding of the hearing ordered by the judge at the hearing to be a PDD
• Any documents agreed by the parties to be PDDs

Litigants may be concerned by the uncertainty of the ‘any other documents critical to the understanding of the hearing’ provision. This is, however, intended to be interpreted narrowly.

It is important to emphasise that these documents were already publicly accessible to third parties, but the onus was on the third party to request them from the court, and some documents were only available by making a formal application to the court. Now, they will be much more easily accessible. The impact of these changes will be significant for companies and individuals who are engaged in litigation but wish to keep sensitive and/or confidential information out of the public domain. However, parties wishing to withhold a document from public view can seek a Filing Modification Order where there are grounds to do so.

Artificial Intelligence and Civil Litigation

Like many other areas of life, civil litigation is still getting to grips with the developments in AI technology and how it can be implemented into existing frameworks. To date, many law firms have used bespoke products rather than the widely used Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini as currently these limited memory AI tools cannot conduct reliable legal research.

This was demonstrated very clearly in the case of R. (on the application of Ayinde) v Haringey LBC [2025] EWHC 1383 (Admin) which concerned two cases where solicitors and barristers had used AI to produce court documents. In those court documents the lawyers cited cases that did not exist. The judge made a wasted costs order against the parties that had submitted those documents and held that the lawyers involved had failed in their duties to the court.

The judge recommended that “those who use artificial intelligence to conduct legal research notwithstanding these risks have a professional duty therefore to check the accuracy of such research by reference to authoritative sources”. This case is not only a lesson for lawyers but also to members of the public involved in court proceedings who attempt to represent themselves using AI tools.

Notwithstanding the warnings in the judgment of R. (on the application of Ayinde) v Haringey LBC [2025] EWHC 1383 (Admin) the Ministry of Justice and the Judiciary will be pushing forwards with their plans to implement AI into the justice system in 2026. In November 2025, the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, gave evidence to the House of Commons Justice Select Committee LCJ at JSC – transcript and confirmed that:

• every judicial office holder in England and Wales now has access to the Microsoft Co-Pilot Chat tool,
• over 300 leadership judges had access to additional AI functionalities, and
• the judiciary are working with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service to build a cross-jurisdictional bespoke judicial AI tool.

She also provided more information on how the judiciary and the court service were working together to use AI to ensure greater efficiency within the court system.

The Ministry of Justice have also published a 3-year AI roadmap (starting in April 2025) AI action plan for justice – GOV.UK to integrate AI across the justice system. The roadmap anticipates that in the latter half of 2026 the Ministry of Justice will embed AI more deeply into its transformation programmes which will enable better frontline delivery and decision making.

It is likely that we will see even greater use of AI in civil litigation as 2026 goes on and that all court users will have to adapt their practices to take account of this.

Navigating the Renters’ Rights Act

Following years of working its way through parliament, parts of the Renters’ Rights Act (the Act) will come into force on 1 May 2026. The Act promises to revolutionise the private rental sector, aiming to give renters greater protections and stability, with the aim of fostering community growth and reducing the risk of homelessness.

The key changes are as follows:

• Abolishing fixed term assured tenancies and assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs)
• Abolishing no fault evictions under section 21 Housing Act 1988
• Changes to the grounds for possession
• Changes to the process for increasing rent
• Tenants will be able to request to keep pets, with landlords not allowed to unreasonably refuse consent for them to do so
• A ban on discrimination against prospective tenants who receive benefits or have children
• A ban on rental bidding
• Awaab’s Law and the Decent Homes Standard will be applied to the private rented sector

All new residential tenancies will be assured periodic tenancies (APTs), and any existing ASTs will become APTs – any term in an existing tenancy agreement providing for a fixed term will no longer be enforceable.

The Act will remove the right for landlords to seek to recover possession of their property on a ‘no-fault’ basis under section 21. This means that landlords’ only means of securing possession will be serving section 8 notices, relying upon a ground for possession under Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988.

Grounds for possession must be evidenced by the landlord in court. With their increased prevalence, the grounds for possession are being amended and widened under the Act, and will include where landlords wish to sell a property, or require it back in order for themselves or a close relative to live in it.

The majority of tenancy reforms will take effect from 1 May 2026. The extent of the Act’s applicability in Wales remains unclear. Given the greater rights that tenants will enjoy, it is imperative that landlords are properly informed to navigate the new landscape in the rental sector.

If you have any further questions please contact our Dispute Resolution solicitors.