An article drew upon a recently completed research study to explore the fairness, efficiency, and effectiveness of dispute resolution schemes in litigated contact cases. It raised concerns about some of the limitations of in-court conciliation, and argued for the development of a more facilitative or educational-therapeutic approach to litigated contact cases.
Source: Liz Trinder and Joanne Kellett, 'Fairness, efficiency and effectiveness in court-based dispute resolution schemes in England', International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, Volume 21 Number 3
Links: Abstract | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Dec
A report described the main findings from the 2006 English and Welsh Civil and Social Justice Survey. 36 per cent of respondents reported having experienced a difficult-to-resolve justiciable problem. This was a rise from 33 per cent reported in the previous survey in 2004. In particular, there was an increase in the reported incidence of consumer, neighbour, and welfare benefit problems.
Source: Pascoe Pleasence, Nigel Balmer and Tania Tam, Civil Justice in England and Wales: Report of the 2006 English and Welsh Civil and Social Justice Survey, Legal Services Research Centre/Legal Services Commission (020 7759 0000)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Dec
The Legal Services Act received Royal assent (following its third reading). The Act was designed to reform the regulation of lawyers, introducing a new Legal Services Board and an Office of Legal Complaints.
Source: Legal Services Act 2007, Ministry of Justice, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 15 October 2007, columns 653-668, TSO
Links: Text of Act | Explanatory notes | HOC research brief | Hansard | MOJ press release | LSO/LSCC press release | Law Society press release | Bar Council press release | Deloitte press release
Date: 2007-Oct
A report by a committee of MPs said that a major shortcoming in efforts by the Legal Services Commission to increase the use of mediation had been the absence of a financial incentive for solicitors and other advisers to promote mediation to clients who might otherwise choose a court-based route.
Source: Legal Services Commission: Legal Aid and Mediation for People Involved in Family Breakdown, Fifty-first Report (Session 2006-07), HC 396, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Oct
A report examined the demographic profile of the legal advice services workforce, and sought to identify skills shortages and barriers to accessing formal development.
Source: Marisol Smith and Tania Tam, Findings from the Legal Advice Sector Workforce Surveys, Legal Services Research Centre/Legal Services Commission (020 7759 0000)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Oct
A report examined the nature, pattern, and impact of people's experience of civil justice problems. The experience of social injustice was concentrated among the poorest and most vulnerable groups. Victims of crime living on low incomes were substantially more likely to experience a range of civil legal problems.
Source: Vicky Kemp, Pascoe Pleasence and Nigel Balmer, The Problems Of Everyday Life: Crime and the Civil and Social Justice Survey, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies/King's College London (020 7848 1688)
Links: Report | CCJS press release
Date: 2007-Oct
A report examined the civil and social justice needs of people in later life. Over a 3-year survey period, just over one-quarter of older people (aged 50 or over) reported having encountered one or more civil law problems. Having a long-term illness or disability, being in receipt of benefits, or having a very low income were particularly associated with civil justice problems in later life.
Source: Civil and Social Justice Needs of Older People, Age Concern England (020 8765 7200)
Links: Report | ASA press release
Date: 2007-Oct
A new book examined the extent to which the law was consistent and/or inconsistent in its concept and treatment of the family.
Source: Rebecca Probert, Family Life and the Law: Under one roof, Ashgate Publications (01235 827730)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Jul
A report examined the proposal to introduce fixed fees in England and Wales in social welfare law, and in particular in the categories of housing, employment, debt, and welfare benefits. It highlighted concern that the proposal was likely to discriminate against clients in London, and members of black and ethnic minority communities.
Source: Fixed Fees, Equality and Diversity, Advice Services Alliance (020 7378 6428)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jul
A report made a series of recommendations designed to improve access to justice through the development of improved funding structures. It said that a supplementary legal aid scheme (SLAS) should be established and operated by the Legal Services Commission.
Source: Michael Napier, Peter Hurst, Richard Moorhead, Robert Musgrove and Colin Stutt, Improved Access to Justice: Funding options and proportionate costs, Civil Justice Council (cjc@hmcourts-service.gsi.gov.uk)
Date: 2007-Jul
A report highlighted the costs borne by public services as a result of widespread legal exclusion, and the disproportionate impact that unresolved everyday problems had on vulnerable people. It called for the strategic development of public legal education.
Source: Developing Capable Citizens: The role of public legal education, Public Legal Education and Support (PLEAS) Task Force (info@pleas.org.uk)
Links: Report | UCL press release | NYA press release
Date: 2007-Jul
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on legal aid reform. It said that it was right to move from remuneration based on time spent to remuneration based on effective services delivered to the client, and that in due course levels of remuneration should be based on market factors.
Source: Implementing Legal Aid Reform Government response to the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee report, Cm 7158, Ministry of Justice, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report | MOJ press release
Date: 2007-Jun
A study examined the impact of changing court fees on users of civil and family courts in England and Wales. People going to court worried more about how stressful or long their court case would be than about the potential costs of the case.
Source: Opinion Leader Research, What's Cost Got To Do With It?: The impact of changing court fees on users, Research Report 4/07, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500)
Links: Report | MOJ press release
Date: 2007-Jun
The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill was given a third reading. The Bill was designed to: reform the tribunal system; change judicial eligibility requirements to enable a broader, more diverse, spectrum of candidates to apply for judicial office; clarify and consolidate the law relating to bailiffs; enable creditors to enforce civil court judgments more effectively; and protect those who had fallen into debt and had no foreseeable way out of it, including a new personal insolvency procedure for those unable to access existing solutions.
Source: Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill, Ministry of Justice, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 27 June 2007, columns 339-437, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory Notes | HOC research brief | Hansard
Date: 2007-Jun
The Legal Services Bill was given a second reading. The Bill was designed to reform the regulation of lawyers, introducing a new Legal Services Board and an Office of Legal Complaints.
Source: Legal Services Bill [HL], Ministry of Justice, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 4 June 2007, columns 24-103, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | HOC research brief | Hansard | Bar Council press release | FT report
Date: 2007-Jun
The government began a second round of consultation on plans to promote a culture of openness in family courts. Better information about family proceedings would be made available to the public: but the media would not (as previously proposed) be given an automatic right to attend family courts.
Source: Confidence & Confidentiality: Openness in Family Courts ? A New Approach, Cm 7131, Ministry of Justice, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Consultation document | MOJ press release | OCC press release | Guardian report | Children Now report
Date: 2007-Jun
The watchdog for legal services said that there were a number of respects in which the Legal Services Bill could be enhanced, in order to deliver fully on its promise of a more consumer-focused vision of legal services.
Source: Legal Services Reform: A Perspective, Legal Services Complaints Commissioner (0845 456 5150) and Legal Services Ombudsman for England and Wales
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jun
The government began consultation on proposals to amend the law on civil damages, including enabling a wider range of people to claim damages when someone died in an accident as a result of another person's negligence.
Source: The Law on Damages, Department for Constitutional Affairs (020 7210 8500)
Links: Consultation document | DCA press release
Date: 2007-May
A report presented evaluations of two mediation programmes in Central London County Court, one quasi-compulsory and the other voluntary. Parties and lawyers were generally positive about their mediation experience, and felt that successful mediation had saved costs and time.
Source: Hazel Genn et al., Twisting Arms: Court referred and court linked mediation under judicial pressure, Research Report 1/07, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-May
The Court of Appeal upheld a £48 million divorce award to the ex-wife of an insurance magnate - the biggest contested divorce payout in English legal history. The president of the High Court?s family division said that London was seen as the 'divorce capital of the world', because recent changes in the law meant that wives were favoured in divorce cases involving very large assets.
Source: Charman v Charman, Court of Appeal 24 May 2007
Links: Text of judgement | Resolution press release | FT report
Date: 2007-May
The government began consultation on proposals to streamline the claims process for personal injury cases, to make it more efficient and cost effective.
Source: Case Track Limits and the Claims Process for Personal Injury Claims, Department for Constitutional Affairs (020 7210 8500)
Links: Consultation document | TUC press release | ABI press release | FT report
Date: 2007-Apr
A paper examined proposed governance reforms of legal services markets. It highlighted their impact on client welfare and quality of legal services in different types of market, according to whether clients were transient or repeated users of the service.
Source: Paul Grout, Ian Jewitt and Silvia Sonderegger, Governance Reform in Legal Service Markets, Working Paper 07/170, Centre for Market and Public Organisation/University of Bristol (0117 954 6943)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2007-Mar
A government agency published a 5-year strategy for the delivery of family legal aid. The strategy was designed to ensure more integrated services that addressed clusters of problems, and focused the available funding on priority clients.
Source: Making Legal Rights a Reality for Children and Families, Legal Services Commission (020 7759 0000)
Links: Strategy Volume 1 | Strategy Volume 2 | LSC press release | DCA press release | Hansard
Date: 2007-Mar
The government published the results of consultation on improving transparency and privacy in the family courts, including open family courts to the media. Children who gave their views overwhelmingly rejected the idea.
Source: Confidence and Confidentiality: Improving Transparency and Privacy in Family Courts - Response to Consultation, Cm 7036, Department for Constitutional Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Consultation responses | Consultation document | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Mar
A report gave an interim evaluation of a project designed to improve and extend young people's access to better quality legal rights-based advice services. It said that the existing policy and funding climate was a 'significant hindrance' to the development of services. There were very few sources of funds available, and competition for those funds was fierce.
Source: Michael Bell Associates, Rights to Access Project: Interim evaluation summary report, Youth Access (020 8772 9900)
Links: Report | Youth Access press release | Briefing
Date: 2007-Feb
A report examined the experiences of young people (aged 18-24) in relation to 18 broad types of civil law problem. 35 per cent of young respondents said that they regretted their 'problem resolution' strategy (or lack of one), compared to 28 per cent of other respondents. Young people often said that they wished they had got advice, got more advice, acted sooner, or tried harder to get advice.
Source: Nigel Balmer, Tania Tam and Pascoe Pleasence, Young People and Civil Justice: Findings from the 2004 English and Welsh Civil and Social Justice Survey, Youth Access (020 8772 9900)
Links: Report | Youth Access press release | Briefing
Date: 2007-Feb