Brothers in arms

The Westminster Legal Forum always runs a good show on public policy issues and development. Its recent forum on civil justice was no exception, bringing together high level speakers and stakeholders, led on this occasion by the two big hitters on recent proposals for change, Lords Justices Briggs and Jackson. Indeed both chose the occasion to develop their recent proposals on, respectively, the online court and fixed costs. The theme of both was that civil justice needs rescuing, at least at the lower end, and their proposals are a route that will open up the process to those who can ill afford the costs and risks of litigation and for whom access to justice is severely limited. They are not wrong on that count although we may differ in some respects only as to the way to resolve this seemingly worsening position.