The Civil Procedure Rules are to be amended to the effect that an application for trial by jury in a defamation claim will now have to be made at the first Case Management Conference. This is a change from the previous rule, which stated that applications must be made within 28 days of the service of the defence.
The amendment, which will take effect on 1st January 2014, reflects the change made by the Defamation Act 2013, which comes into force on the same date, abolishing the presumption of trial by jury in defamation claims (section 11).
This amendment to CPR 26.11 is made by the Civil Procedure (Amendment No.8) Rules 2013, which can be found here.