Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System

New to this edition

The 2017–2018 edition of Introduction to the English System includes coverage of:

• introduction of the Transformation of our Justice System reform programme;
• developments in the criminal justice reform, including implementation of the efficiency programme, use of problem solving courts and the introduction of online decision making;
• proposals for the reform of the prison system;
• civil justice reform, including online dispute resolution, ‘pop-up courts’, investment in IT and greater use of fixed fees;
• ideas for funding civil litigation;
• administrative justice reform, including the digitisation of social security appeals, the fees policy on administrative justice and increased tribunal judicial flexibility;
• proposals for reform of the regulation of the legal professions, and claims management companies;
• implications of the EU referendum result and the UK’s legal relationship with Europe;
• other topics, including: the Investigatory Powers Act 2016; Lammy inquiry into possible biases in the criminal justice system; next steps in increasing judicial diversity.

The pace of change is unrelenting. Most obviously, since the current editon at the end of 2016, there has been a new General Election. The Government has made clearer the steps that need to be taken to implement the decision that the UK should leave the European Union. These will be reflected in future editions of the book.

Reform of the criminal and civil justice systems also continues apace. The main changes will be noted in this blog so that you can keep up to date with latest developments