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29 January 2010 / Michael Todd KC
Issue: 7402 / Categories: Opinion , Costs
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Cost-effective justice

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To Jackson LJ access to justice is “the ability of a person to obtain legal advice and representation, and to secure the adjudication through the courts of their legal rights and obligations,” and that is to be achieved at proportionate cost.

To Jackson LJ access to justice is “the ability of a person to obtain legal advice and representation, and to secure the adjudication through the courts of their legal rights and obligations,” and that is to be achieved at proportionate cost.

Broadly, Jackson LJ’s final recommendations published earlier this month fall into two categories; those relating to funding, and those relating to case management. In civil litigation, legal aid is rarely available; and where it is available it is being reduced. Yet it is in relation to funding that Jackson LJ makes the most controversial of his recommendations; and it is about these recommendations that concerns have been expressed.

No-win no-fee

The recommendations concern the future of conditional fee agreements (CFAs). In future,

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