Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System

In a number of key cases taken to the Supreme Court and th Court of Appeal, the legal arguments presented to the courts have been supplemented by ‘Third Party interventions’ in which submissions are made by organisations who are not directly involved in the specific case, but who have considerable expertise in the area of law the subject of analysis in the courts.

One of the consequences of the reforms to the procedures for judicial review, introduced in 2015, was that the rules on the costs implications for making such interventions were changed – with a view to trying to reduce their number.

During Parliamentary debate, it was acknowledged that there would be cases where the courts really would be assisted by additional expert submissions. In such cases, it was argued that the bodies making those submissions should not be penalised in costs.

The human rights group, JUSTICE, who have successfully intervened in many key human rights cases have just published a guide to the new law To assist the Court: Third Party Interventions in the Public Interest. This sets out the steps that need to be taken to ensure that costs penalties will not be imposed.

The guide is available for download, free, from:http://justice.org.uk/our-work/third-party-interventions/