There is something deeply suspicious going on. I was struck the other day how the Ministry of ‘Justice’ no longer seems to carry the strapline of its predecessor, the Department more…

Do you – and your partner, if you have one – have total savings of more than £3,000? Something to supplement your (reduced value) pension during your imminent retirement, perhaps, more…

In saying ‘no’ to regulating will writing, it would appear that the Justice secretary, Chris Grayling, has something of a death wish. At the very least he is making it more…

It’s probably fair to say I am not a fan of this government, but that doesn’t mean to say I disagree with everything it’s doing, only about 99.9% of it. more…

Last month on this blog, I set out my utterly brilliant six-point plan for the next Labour government to ‘protect vulnerable workers’, and promised I would be expanding on each more…

On-the-spot fines were once reserved for minor procedural issues such as parking or failing to have a train ticket, writes Josie Appleton. Josie Appleton (below) is director of the civil more…

As if moving home weren’t stressful enough anyway: finding a house, having your offer accepted, selling your house, getting your mortgage approved, packing up your life, hoping everyone else in more…

There is nothing wrong with trying to cut costs and save a few quid, especially if your bank balance is a bit on the rocky side. But, as with everything more…

‘A lie can be halfway around the world before the truth has got its boots on’, said the then Labour Prime Minister Jim Callaghan in the 1970s (though earlier versions more…

INTERVIEW: There can’t have been many candidates less likely to make Queen’s Counsel, that most venerable rank of legal distinction, than Stefan Cross, writes Jon Robins. To say that the more…

Raising the Titanic: what Labour must do to protect vulnerable workers. By 2015, the Coalition Government will have transformed the UK’s legal framework for the protection of vulnerable workers. Transformed, more…

What was looking like a quiet Friday in the office – I’d even started to tidy my desk – was brought to life just before lunchtime, by publication of the more…

Whilst Coalition ministers claim that they want to ‘make work pay’, someone in government is considering how to freeze or even cut the National Minimum Wage. Yes, really. Last week, more…

Yesterday I took myself off to the Resolution Foundation, in Saville Row, to hear a speech by the BIS skills minister, Matthew Hancock MP, on ‘a Conservative agenda for tackling more…

It is a little unfortunate that as calls for an ‘NHS Direct for law’ grow louder, the real thing is being broken up and auctioned off to the highest bidder, more…

Business perceptions of the ‘burden’ of employment law do not reflect reality, according to a government-commissioned research study published last week by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS). more…

£4,000 is a heck of a lot of money for photocopying, even if you’d budgeted for it.  At 10p a sheet, that’s 40,000 sheets of paper, although of course if more…

In the wake of a flurry of press and media reports of the growing trend for NHS Trusts to employ ‘key clinical staff’ on so-called zero-hours contracts, under which workers have no more…

Family breakdown is the ‘most complained about area of law’, according to a new report out today. Excessive charges, poor service and customers who unfairly blamed lawyers for the outcome more…

In 2010, under pressure from a series of Citizens Advice reports and faced with a research finding that half of all ET awards go unpaid, the Ministry of Justice introduced more…

To consult, or not to consult: that is the question. On which there will be no consultation. Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, when Nick Clegg was more…

At the Conservative Party conference in October, the Chancellor, George Osborne, grabbed a few headlines by announcing plans to create a new ‘employee-owner’ status, under which workers will be able more…

Minimum standards for basic bank accounts are to be welcomed, but consumers may also need legal protection to ensure these accounts continue to promote financial inclusion and offer a simple more…

The weekend before last the Observer’s front page reported that Labour party leader Ed Miliband has joined forces with his brother David to work up plans to deliver a ‘living more…

ADVICE GUIDE: Your right not to be discriminated against at work. In the third of our JusticeGap series (here), I’m going to cover the law relating to workplace discrimination in more…

Your right not to be discriminated against at work: In the third of our JusticeGap series (here), I’m going to cover the law relating to workplace discrimination in the United more…

In civilised life the art of rhetoric is perhaps a man’s most potent weapon. An ability to sway decision makers and establish consensus via a cocktail of well crafted ethos, more…

Last week, the business secretary Vince Cable announced that more reforms were planned to make it ‘easier for firms to hire staff while protecting basic labour rights’. Further details of more…

JUSTICE GAP GUIDE: This is the second in a series of articles on employment law aimed at the public and specifically looking at the practice and procedure in the employment more…

I once made a television programme about the phenomenon of the ‘Vexatious Litigant’, writes David Jessel. It was meant to be a sympathetic portrait, which made it all the more more…

There has been a 61% rise in the number of reported High Court and tax tribunal cases involving unrepresented litigants in the last five years. According to the legal publisher more…

I have previously suggested on the JusticeGap that one way to improve the shockingly low rate of compliance with employment tribunal (ET) awards might be to rework clause 13 of the Enterprise & more…

This is the first in a series of articles on employment law aimed at the public and specifically looking at the practice and procedure in the employment tribunal. The aim more…

Claims management companies providing a poor service could be forced to pay compensation, according to plans published by the Ministry of Justice today. From next year it will be the more…

You might think that the introduction of a power for employment tribunals to impose a (moderate) financial penalty, in addition to an award, on ‘repeat offenders’ and rogue employers who more…

I’ve just been to see Hamdy Shahein. He’s the Stoke Newington newsagent who was strong-armed by Hackney’s Trading Standards and Police officers to take down his Olympic Torch Relay (TM) more…

New employment tribunal statistics released this week by the Ministry of Justice, in reply to a parliamentary question by Caroline Lucas MP, show that the combined number of new single more…

So, despite hardly any of the 140 organisations and individuals who responded to the Government’s consultation on employment tribunal (ET) fees expressing much, if any, support for its proposed fee more…

ESSAY: Parliament used the Legal Services Act 2007 to enshrine the need to increase access to justice within legal services regulation, writes Alex Roy of the Legal Services Board.  As more…

The Actuarial Profession last week published a report in which they highlighted a marked increase in the number of personal injury claims made last year, despite a corresponding fall in more…

Amid continuing uncertainty around the Government’s Modern Workplaces proposals for reform of maternity and paternity rights at work, and continuing media reports of an increase in the number of pregnant more…

Is the employment tribunal backlog at a record high?  Is the employment tribunal system ‘completely overstretched’?  The Telegraph would have you believe it is so. One in four tribunal cases more…

At a meeting in the House of Commons yesterday, representatives from the CBI, the TUC, the Chartered Institute of Personnel Directors, the Law Society  and the Equality & Human Rights more…

A house purchase is delayed because the seller’s conveyancer loses some paperwork, writes Steve Brooker.  A victim of a violent attack is treated abusively by prosecuting counsel.  Beneficiaries are denied more…

Monday’s second reading of the Enterprise & Regulatory Reform Bill was a surprisingly bi-partisan affair, with not a single Liberal Democrat back-bench MP speaking in support of the Liberal Democrat more…

There are new calls upon the legal profession’s watchdog to accept complaints from non-clients and consumers otherwise prevented from complaining due to ‘technicalities’ out today. The Legal Services Board’s independent more…

ANALYSIS: On 23 May, the Government published its Enterprise & Regulatory Reform Bill, as trailed in the Queen’s Speech, writes Richard Dunstan. With the aim of ‘improving the employment tribunal more…

Business Secretary Vince Cable yesterday attacked ‘ideological zealots who want to encourage British firms to fire at will’.  He was speaking after a draft of the venture capitalist Adrian Beecroft’s more…

There was much pomp and ceremony at Westminster as the Queen set out her Government’s legislative programme for the forthcoming parliamentary session earlier this month.  As expected, the Queen’s Speech more…

The day before district judge Richard Chapman talks to the JusticeGap is a typically frantic day at Telford County Court. On his list, there were 12 ‘Children Act’ cases featuring more…

Three years ago my job description was amended, from dealing with cases of private landlord harassment and illegal eviction, to include defending mortgage borrower’s in financial difficulty from repossession by more…

On 10 April, the Sun newspaper carried (under an ‘exclusive’ banner) a news story entitled ‘Hair Hitlers: EU rules to ban hairdressers from wearing rings and heels’. Under a photo of more…

Last week, I went along to the somewhat incongruously swanky offices of the Resolution Foundation think tank for a seminar on the National Minimum Wage (NMW). The Foundation was launching more…

Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it. It’s an ages-old warning, but seemingly one that the CBI and other employer lobby groups failed to heed when more…

What happens if you break the terms of a mortgage possession order. For Rita’s guide to what to do if you are struggling with your mortgage read HERE. If you more…

ADVICE GUIDE: Rita Jackson explains what happens if you break the terms of a mortgage possession order. For Rita’s guide to what to do if you are struggling with your more…

Pointy-headed policy wonks like me who have elected to bat for the have-nots of society lead a strange, and strangely monotonous, work life. For long periods – years, decades even more…

The Co-operative has become the first major consumer brand to be licensed by the solicitors’ regulatory body to offer the full range of high street legal services. Co-operative Legal Services more…

A shocking example of confusion and clerical error has led to an amendment to the Legal Advice Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, which was debated in the House of more…

An innovative video conferencing scheme linking lawyers to the public, free to use and provided by Instant Law went live in an Oxford community centre today. As reported before HERE, more…

ADVICE GUIDE: Almost one in four complaints about lawyers relate to clients feeling ‘over-charged, confused, or surprised’ at the costs. The following guide is aimed at consumers to make sure more…

Captains of industry being what they are, there is nothing that newspapers out to bash the employment tribunal system like better than a nice, cuddly charity boss.  Early last year, more…

ADVICE GUIDE: Rita Jackson advises you on what to do if you are struggling with your mortgage repayments and fear that you might lose your home. This guide relates to more…

How to deal with mortgage possession proceedings? This guide relates to England and Wales. You may be facing the loss of your home for a range of reasons, your options more…

‘Cost’ was the single most common cause of complaints from clients about their lawyers, according to a new report published Legal Ombudsman. It found that in ‘20% to 25%’ of more…

A few weeks ago, I was attending a meeting on employment tribunal (ET) procedure when, somewhat predictably, the representative of the British Chambers of Commerce robustly voiced their concern that more…

A new report by the Legal Action Group (London Advice Watch) provides a comprehensive overview of London’s landscape of advice agencies that currently cover social welfare law. Social welfare law more…

With the Budget approaching, dark forces within and around the Coalition Government have been trying to re-launch their seemingly stalled campaign for a right for employers to fire workers at more…

Last year, the legal action involving 100 families seeking compensation on behalf of their children against the anti-convulsant Epilim came to a premature end, writes Janet Williams. You can read more…

The Government’s legal aid reforms Bill received another bashing at the hands of peers yesterday. The Legal Aid, Punishment and Sentencing of Offenders Bill – which aims to strip away more…

The controversial legal aid Bill is back in the House of Lords this week, as the campaign against its planned £350m cuts are joined by faith leaders as well a more…

The UK Border Agency is to be split in two following an official inquiry by John Vine, the Independent Chief Inspector. In a report published at the end of last month, more…

Open Justice Week is a project that hopefully will be of great help in demystifying the courts. Whilst people read about high profile criminal case, the ‘bread and butter’ court more…

Research from the LSE suggests that access to specialist legal advice may be the first to go if the government goes ahead with the implementation of cuts to civil legal more…

Regular readers of this blog (hello, Mum) will know that I am not too impressed with the Ministry of Justice’s two options for an employment tribunal (ET) fees regime.  Both more…

In January the president of the solicitors’ representative body, the Law Society, John Wotton caused a bit of a kerfuffle with his prediction that, sooner or later, the distinction between more…

The Prime Minister David Cameron launched his latest attack on the ‘compensation culture’ pledging to slash the £1,200 fee for lawyers on small personal injury claims. [Pic by Sehb Hundal]. more…

Contrary to the impression given by much press and media reporting – that the number of employment tribunal claims is spiralling upwards due to a wave of ‘vexatious’ or ‘speculative’ more…

The Government’s principal – if not only – defence against the charge that its proposed fees of up to £1,750 for employment tribunal (ET) claimants would create a substantial barrier more…

Reforms of ‘no win, no fee’ will play into the hands of big business and media groups,  campaigners told peers as they debated the legal aid Bill in the House more…

The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill is this week being debated in the House of Lords, and John Prescott noted on Monday that media companies have been more…

In November 2008 Lord Justice Jackson was asked by the Labour Government to review how civil litigation was funded. The following autumn, Sir Ian Magee was brought in to shake more…

What does a compensation culture look like? What is a health and safety culture? Is it statistics which show road traffic accident (RTA) claims rising year on year?  It cannot more…

My blog here last week on the Government’s proposals for an employment tribunal fees regime generated a fair bit of comment (Pass the Ibuprofen).  Much of the response was supportive more…

Fulcrum TV is looking for willing volunteers to take part in a new BBC ONE series that aims to show consumers that they have rights and can get justice for more…

Over the past few days, I have been trying to get my head around the Government’s proposals for charging fees in employment tribunals, as set out in the consultation paper more…

Up to four million library users will be able to access free legal advice via webcams. Birmingham and Westminster city councils are teaming up with Instant Law, which recently launched more…

For the past 12 months or so, the press and other media have been awash with stories about the ‘spiralling’, ‘out of control’ number of ‘vexatious’ and ‘speculative’ employment tribunal more…

New advice published aimed at people going through the courts without legal advice. The Royal Courts of Justice Advice Bureau, together with AdviceNow, this week publishes a series of advice more…

The increase in claims for whiplash is the main reason for the growth of motor insurance premiums, according to a report releasd today by the House of Commons Transport Committee. more…

The government is determined to kill off the ‘health and safety monster’ by limiting the fees lawyers can earn from personal injury claims. The Daily Telegraph reported that David Cameron more…

Picking up where the Department of Business Innovation and Skills and the Ministry of Justice left off at the end of 2011 – hailing their erosion of hard-won workers’ rights more…

You might have read reports about ‘dodgy’ breast implants from France. If you have been following the news and have had breast implants manufactured by Poly Implants Prothese (PIP) you more…

Well, the phoney war is over, and now we employment policy wonks can start sinking our teeth into some actual new policy, as opposed to mere proposals ‘under consultation’ or more…

In another blow for the private parking civil recovery industry, a Manchester County Court judge refused to award £240 claimed by the Parking Eye car park management company in respect more…

Maybe this has passed you by but there has been a particularly fraught and somewhat unenlightening debate about banning ‘referral fees’: these are payments made by lawyers to claims management more…

‘Making the best of a bad job.’ That was the downbeat assessment of the independent judicial body, the Civil Justice Council on its own recommendations to secure access to justice more…

The High Court has ordered the man behind the SolicitorsFromHell.co.uk which claimed to ‘name and shame’ allegedly poor lawyers to shut his site  down.  The court ordered Rick Kordowski to more…

A new paper by the independent judicial body the Civil Justice Council on unrepresented litigants has predicted that the number of those unfortunate enough to come before the courts without more…

The Office for Legal Complaints, which oversees the Legal Ombudsman, has decided to ‘name and shame’ lawyers in specific circumstances. From next year, for the first time specific information about more…

If you haven’t got a will, then you probably ought to – see the Justice Gap advice guide. November is Will Aid week where some lawyers forgo their fees donating more…

The government has pulled the plug on its national mediation helpline whilst pledging to move out-of-court initiatives ‘centre stage’. The helpline was axed as a result of a continuing decline in more…

Ahead of MPs debating the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill this afternoon a group of 24 national charities including Mind, Scope, the RNIB, Mencap, and Leonard Cheshire more…

Eagle-eyed shoppers on the high streets of England and Wales might have detected the first signs of a ‘revolution’ in legal services: the appearance of the first national chain of law firms.
Quality Act: The X-factor’s Stacey Solomon opens a new branch of Quality Solicitors (below).

Emma Friedman, mother of 13 year old Andy, on the failed Epilim litigation against Sanofi-Aventis. Emma took the drug when pregnant to prevent epileptic fits. She was one of 100 more…

My son Andy was part one of a group of 100 children who received a substantial amount of legal aid – £3.25million in total – to sue the pharmaceutical company more…

The justice minister, Jonathan Djanogly, has been stripped of his responsibility to regulate claims management companies after a Guardian investigation that revealed how his family could profit from the legal more…

Government plans to double the qualification period for the right to claim unfair dismissal from one to two years as part of a move to ‘increase business confidence to take more…

KIM EVANS: The relatively innocent fumblings of teenagers can ruin young lives. Last year I represented a 17-year old male who had been arrested for rape, quite possibly the worst more…

Access to justice has always been a disputed concept – what do we mean by ‘access’, let alone justice? Our courts, tribunals and other redress or dispute resolution systems have more…

JAMES SANDBACH: No-one expects that Government can replicate a universal NHS style service when it comes to dealing with people’s financial and legal problems. But its retreat from funding civil more…

KIM EVANS: As I help my teenage children to tiptoe through the hormonal minefield that is their teenage years, I wonder if they’re lucky or not in their mother’s choice more…

Today marks a seismic shift in the law world. The introduction of non-law businesses – they’re called ABSs or alternative business structures – on October 6th under the Legal Services more…

Today, historically, we begin to see the landscape change. Opening up the market ends the position where non-lawyers were prevented from owning a stake in law firms.

‘I genuinely believe “access to justice” is the hallmark of a civilised society.’ It was with those inspiring words that justice secretary Ken Clarke introduced his government’s legal aid reforms more…

Jonathan Djanogly was forced to admit this week that his two children had owned shares in a claims management firm despite his department’s responsibility for regulating the notoriously controversial industry. more…

Workers will have to pay over £1,000 to bring unfair dismissal claims, the government announced. The chancellor, George Osborne is proposing that applicants will have to cover the costs of more…

A consortium of retailers and businesses led by the Association of British Insurers has called for an end to the ‘have a go’ compensation culture The group, which included Argos, more…

A motor insurer has claimed that some 300,000 drivers might have accepted penalty points on behalf of someone else in the last ten years. The research from LV= estimated about more…

Divorces in England and Wales are apparently being held up by couples sniping over supermarket penalty points and air miles as the recession bites, according to Manchester-based law firm Pannones. more…

A mystery shopper exercise by the Legal Services Consumer Panel failed one in four wills. Currently, there are no restrictions on who can draft wills and there are increasing numbers more…

Who said romance was dead? A legal expenses insurer has launched what it rather delicately refers to as ‘nuptial insurance products’. ‘As the first of their kind to hit the more…

The family of Milly Dowler, the murdered schoolgirl, has attacked the government’s controversial plans to overhaul ‘no win, no fee’ deals. In a letter to the Prime Minister, Sally, Bob more…

News that Milly Dowler’s parents are negotiating a sizeable compensation sum under a ‘no win, no fee’ deal from Murdoch and News Corp, and that they have written to David more…