The panel, which met for a round-table discussion on the UK's civil procedure rules this month, issued the following statement: "The lack of government investment, in particular in online legal facilities, [has] directly impacted on the efficient management of civil cases. Without suitable case management resources, the preparation of legal documents becomes time consuming, which in turn forces up costs."

Panel members included the Right Honourable Lord Justice Brooke; Christopher Floyd QC; Keith Conway from Dechert LLP; Simon Davis from Clifford Chance; David Redfern from Stanley Tee and Fraser Whitehead from Russell, Jones & Walker.

David Redfern, managing partner of regional firm Stanley Tee, said there was a general need to increase efficiency throughout the UK's civil court system.

He said: "The profession has overtaken the courts on the IT front. We operate in a highly technical way and then hit the buffers of the courts. If courts had an effective case management system and email we could make real progress."

Fraser Whitehead, a litigation partner at London firm Russell Jones & Walker, said: "I don't think there is any will power in the treasury to fund the civil justice system because it is viewed as essentially private dispute resolution that should only be funded as a last resort."

He added: "I think in the future we will therefore see a move towards alternative processes to resolve disputes and a greater non-lawyer involvement in the process."

Bill Marshall, publishing systems director at LexisNexis Butterworths, said: "When the issue of cost jeopardises or interferes with the pursuit of justice and the efficiency of case management systems is questioned, steps need to be taken to bring about change."

He added: "Online facilities can play an imperative role in increasing efficiency and in turn reducing the time spent preparing for cases, a direct knock-on effect of which is reduced cost."