Procedure & practice

Neil Parpworth outlines how access to justice, through the function of the courts, must continue during the coronavirus pandemic

PD 51Z: managing court capacity & protecting public health

Amendments to civil legal aid will come into force on 15 May, removing the ‘much maligned gateway’ for advice in discrimination, debt and special educational needs and reinstating face-to-face advice in these areas, as well as a small change to the evidence required to prove a person is at risk from domestic abuse and therefore eligible for legal aid, NLJ columnist Stephen Gold writes in the latest Civil Way

LexisNexisUK is offering a COVID-19 toolkit for in-house lawyers or legal advisers concerned about issues relating to the pandemic

Does the recent affirmation that commercial litigation funders could face unlimited costs liability mark the effective end of the Arkin cap? Thomas Wingfield reports

The Arkin cap, which protects third-party litigation funders, will survive the Court of Appeal’s recent refusal to apply it, but in a new light, an advocate has argued.

Court of Protection judge Mr Justice Hayden used Skype in a rapidly arranged hearing about an Alzheimer’s sufferer in a care home, whose daughter wanted to bring him home due to the COVID-19 suspension on visitors, NLJ columnist DDJ Gold writes this week

Costs lawyers have called for the guideline hourly rates (GHR) to revert to the old system of being set locally