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27 May 2022 / David Mayor
Issue: 7980 / Categories: Features , Personal injury
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Abuse survivors & the search for justice

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David Mayor on why it’s vital to understand the needs of the client when pursuing civil claims for abuse
  • More than civil compensation is often required when helping survivors and victims of abuse.
  • Why it’s important to understand at the earliest stage what definition of justice the victim is seeking.

The civil justice system can achieve wonderful things. A judge can order you to finish what you promised to do, freeze your assets, prevent you from going to certain places, stop you issuing litigation without permission; even commit you to prison. But when it comes to tortious claims, it is nothing more than a blunt instrument.

Its aspirations are to place the injured party in the position that they would have occupied but for the commission of the tort but that is, by its very nature, a Sisyphean task. It is physically and practically impossible to put somebody in that position and, even if the court achieves that goal to the best of its abilities, the victim will

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NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
The winners of the LexisNexis Legal Awards 2026 have now been announced, marking another outstanding celebration of excellence, innovation, and impact across the legal profession
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
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