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16 April 2015 / David Greene
Issue: 7649 / Categories: Opinion
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A civil sea change?

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David Greene examines the ongoing civil justice projects that a new government will have to address

Will the forthcoming election and the changes that are bound to follow in personnel at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) mark a sea change in civil justice reform? The general line developed over the past few years has been to dissuade those seeking to resolve disputes from using the court process to achieve that end. The latest episode in that process has seen an unprecedented rise in court fees. There is nothing to suggest that any of the parties who may form all or part of the next government altering this stance to any great extent. 

There are a number of projects in civil justice that remain in process that a new government will be addressing in some fashion over the next 12 months.

Introducing an inquisitorial process

The adversarial process is built upon the concepts that parties are both capable of presenting an argument and that there is equality of arms between the parties. Both are

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Chair of the Association of Pension Lawyers joins as partner

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Group names Shakespeare Martineau partner head of Sheffield office

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Four legal directors promoted to partner across UK offices

NEWS

The abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC

Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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