On the 25th January, Justice Minister Helen Grant announced a proposed package of measures to ‘clean up the bailiff industry’, writes Kate Briscoe. Kate Briscoe founded the www.legalbeagles.info consumer website more…

Juries in criminal trials frequently ask questions after they have retired, writes Mark George QC. These usually seek clarification from the judge as to the directions of law he has 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…

Thanks to Tony Blair’s pathetic desire for a place in history as a defender of the western way of life and his consequent decision to take the UK into a more…

Judgments seldom make easy reading, even for lawyers. The judgments that really matter, by which I mean judgments that potentially introduce new principles or modify existing ones, tend to be more…

The Justice and Security Bill plans to extend the use of closed material proceedings to all civil trials – secret court hearings – allowing the government to present evidence behind more…

This week an independent tribunal in The Hague will examine the massacre by the Ayatollah Khomeini’s regime of some 20 to 30,000 political prisoners, men and women, in Iran in more…

I explore the gunge in the waste disposal to retrieve the tiny pipette I use to fill a plastic brush-pen with ink. I take the wrong bus. Then I miss more…

ANALYSIS: ‘They see the judge as being very fair to them. Even when he’s locking them up which he tries not to. This is the first court I have ever more…

ANALYSIS: On Tuesday 18 September, the Law Society held a public debate on the Defamation Bill, asking the panel – including two QCs, a libel reform campaigner and an in-house more…

I’m going to start this piece by making three straightforward propositions, writes Daniel Hoadley. The first is that the law of England & Wales is difficult to get your head more…

PHOTO ESSAY: I met Bruce (15) and his partner Amy (17) as they were sleeping on the floor of a house in Market Town. Bruce went to the same high 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…

In July this year Judge David Harvey of the North Shore District Court in New Zealand stepped down from the Megaupload extradition case after his comments suggesting that ‘the US more…

How open is the court at the Azelle Rodney Inquiry? Subject to any restrictions imposed by a notice or order under section 19, the chairman must take such steps as 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…

The number of defamation court cases fell 15% last year, according to the legal publisher Sweet & Maxwell. Public scrutiny following the phone hacking scandal has led to ‘a lower more…

The Family Justice Review, the Courts Bill and Mr Justice Ryder’s response on behalf of the judiciary offers a once in a lifetime opportunity to modernise the family law system. more…

The long awaited report from Mr Justice Ryder was published yesterday – see here. For me the headline proposal from is the creation of a unified family court. For those more…

Children were suffering as a result of family cases taking too long to go through court, the Lord Chief Justice said yesterday. Lord Judge, introducing a new report following on more…

Paul Chambers has been cleared by the High Court. No surprises there really – can you think of anyone who thinks (or at least has gone public to say they more…

‘Knives aren’t allowed so I forget about trying to sharpen charcoal pencils and end up smearing my face with burnt sticks as usual,’ writes Isobel Williams, about the perils of 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…

ANALYSIS: Following the 2003 Home Office White Paper Respect and Responsibility: Taking a Stand Against Anti-Social Behaviour, and the 2008 Green Paper Engaging Communities in Criminal Justice, a greater emphasis more…

Would you like the basic defence package, the standard package or the superior package? As of October this year that’s a question you will have to answer if you face more…

‘Blairism led to 21 criminal justice bills in 13 years,’ said justice secretary Ken Clarke on the Andrew Marr show last February  - and he didn’t mean that as a more…

The prospect confronting a courtroom artist is not that aesthetically pleasing: plastic water jugs, computers, suits, a far-away view of the subject – and you’re not even allowed to draw more…

A week after Lady Justice Hallett warned against her courtroom be ‘turned into a circus’ – see HERE – and the circus turned up to the Royal Courts of Justice. more…

ANALYSIS: Every criminal advocate knows that Crown Courts are ghost towns compared to a few years ago, writes Mark George QC. Many have suspected that the cause must be changes more…

Broadcasters welcomed the inclusion in the Queen’s speech of the promise of legislation to allow them to film court proceedings. In a joint statement from Sky News, ITN and the more…

Ministers are to announce plans to allow magistrates to sit on their own in community centres or police stations in a bid to speed up justice. According to a report 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…

BBC, ITN and Sky are pushing to overturn the ban on cameras in courtrooms. The broadcasters are joint signatories to a letter calling for the provision to be included in more…

So our courts are not like the Jeremy Kyle show after all? We think we sort of know how the courts work in the UK. We watch Coronation Street, remember more…