Civil Legal Aid Review
The Gazette covers our submission to the Ministry of Justice’s call for evidence as part of the Civil Legal Aid Review.
Law Society president Nick Emmerson said: “‘It would not take a huge sum of money in terms of overall public expenditure to tackle the crisis and the savings in other areas from solving people’s problems early would more than offset the cost. We urge the government to use its civil legal aid review to invest in the system and ensure there is a future for this vital public service.”
Read our press release
Nightingale Court remains open
The Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard reports the Cirencester Courthouse, one of several Nightingale Courts set up during the pandemic, will remain open for another year.
Law Society president Nick Emmerson said: “Additional physical capacity alone is not the solution.
“We know there are already nightingale courts sitting empty due to a lack of judges.
“The most pressing issue is there are not enough lawyers, court staff or judges to cover all the outstanding cases.
"Long-term investment is needed across the whole criminal justice system to remedy this.
“If no immediate action is taken, courts will be even less able to cope, with potentially damaging consequences for society.
“A significant injection of funding is urgently needed to prevent this collapse.”
Justice minister Mike Freer said: “People who break the law must face justice and ensuring these 20 extra courtrooms remain open in 2024 will do just that.
“Crown courts are already dealing with the highest number of cases than at any point since 2019.
"We want to keep making progress and deliver swifter access to justice.”
HMCTS court reforms delayed
The Gazette and Solicitors Journal cover HM Courts and Tribunals Service announcing it is extending the timeline of some of its reform programmes and pausing implementation of others as it tackles the court backlogs.
Law Society president Nick Emmerson said: “HMCTS is making sensible decisions about prioritising work given the dual challenges of delivering the court reform programme and tackling the huge court backlogs.
“Clearly, proper investment in our justice system rather than decades of cuts would have meant the court service didn’t find itself in this difficult situation.”
Also worth a read:
- Hundreds wrongly convicted in Post Office scandal will have their names cleared –BBC and FT (£)
- CILEX calls for urgent civil legal aid reforms – Solicitors Journal
- Assange hearing blighted by technical problems in the Royal Courts of Justice – Gazette
- Britain’s only transgender judge has resigned, claiming she risks making the judiciary political –Times
- Post Office scandal victims set to be cleared by new law – BBC
- Law Commission has launched a project looking at cross-border disputes involving crypto-tokens and electronic trade documents – Gazette
- British government official tells the UN that the UK government can never accept that nature has rights - Guardian
- A Palestinian refugee is taking legal action against the Home Office after they rejected his asylum application for his wife and children - BBC