Caissons tend to be used increasingly as the foundations of quay walls for retaining the reclaimed materials on soft clay layers because they can transfer vertical loads from the walls to the bearing strata and resist effectively the lateral plastic flow of soft clay as well as the lateral loads due to surcharge. This paper examines the feasibility of improving the conventional caisson design by including drains at the back face. Theoretical solutions for two-dimensional consolidation with a lateral drainage boundary are presented. A simple numerical example involving isotropic clay shows that the lateral influence distance of the caisson drains is roughly equal to the height of the caissons. This procedure should allow the marine clay in close proximity to the caissons to gain strength at a faster rate, hence reducing earth pressures acting on the caisson foundations. In addition, it may not be necessary to install vertical drains close to the quay wall and caissons.