Devolution plans for High Court justice

Regional centres of the Administrative Court should be established to allow High Court sittings to take place regularly outside London, a judicial working group has recommended.

The working group—led by Lord Justice May, vice-president of the Queen’s Bench Division—in its report, Justice Outside of London, calls for High Court judges to be allowed to sit at administrative centres in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Cardiff, dealing with work currently only dealt with in London’s Royal Courts of Justice.

The report says: “The present system discriminates against those who are not in the South of England.” The recommendations have been met with overwhelming support from lawyers in the regions.

Sukhdev Bhomra, president of Birmingham Law Society, says: “We have campaigned for years for the establishment of an Administrative Court in Birmingham. We urge the government to implement the report’s recommendations as soon as possible and bring greater access to justice to the citizens of Birmingham and its environs.’’

Jeff Lewis, chair of Manchester Law Society’s civil litigation committee and a partner at Brabners Chaffe Street, says the move would boost the status of Manchester’s legal profession.“Lawyers who are used to spending large periods of time in London could remain locally. This would assist in the retention of good lawyers by north west firms and chambers: too often lawyers specialising in administrative law have found they have had to leave Manchester for London to ‘follow the work’.”

He adds: “If a party wants to apply, for example, for judicial review of a matter with a north west connection, even where both sides are based in the north west and the subject-matter is rooted there, all parties have to travel to London for a hearing. Quite apart from the impact that this has on costs, this is an outmoded and in many ways illogical system, and we welcome any attempts to change it.”

James Haddleton, chairman of Leeds Law Society’s civil litigation committee and a partner at DLA Piper, says regional access to justice makes sense.
“We have county courts in towns and cities across England and Wales precisely because justice should be dispensed where people live. There is no longer a case for keeping the Administrative Court only in London. We anticipate more than 700 immigration cases could be heard each year in Leeds if the Administrative Court set up here.”