Civil courts survey

Some 70% of claimants in the past year contacted the other side to try to resolve their complaint out of court, according to the Ministry of Justice’s 2014-15 Civil Court User Survey. Nearly all unspecified money claimants used legal representation, mainly funded on a “no win no fee” basis, compared with less than half of specified money claimants. Half of those specified money claimants who did use a lawyer, did not pay legal fees, perhaps because they used a trade union or law centre. Fewer than one in four claimants used a formal mediation process.