header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
27 September 2018 / Roger Smith
Issue: 7810 / Categories: Opinion , Technology
printer mail-detail

Missing: stage one

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.

Roger Smith questions why the triage process, vital for the success of the online court modernisation programme, has gone AWOL

Lord Briggs was an inspired choice to send out to prepare the ground for the court modernisation. He produced two thoughtful and well written reports advocating the kind of change that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the senior judiciary of that time wanted. After his opening artillery salvos had levelled the intellectual field, Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) arrived with the ground troops to clear up. Alas, in the move to implementation, concepts that he had argued as key were quietly removed. His reports are still brandished as enthusiastic endorsements of a general process even though specific elements of his proposals were countermanded. That raises some wider questions about the nature of the programme and its constitutional accountability.

Small claims & tribunals online

The court modernisation programme endorsed by Lord Briggs is a protean agglomeration of close to 50 different projects that, overall, amount to a revolution in the courts. Each one merits

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Divorce ‘nuclear weapon’ freezes assets but entangles outsiders
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
NLJ this week: What counts as ‘rent’? Court says labour alone won’t do
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Your magistrates’ court needs you!
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
NLJ this week: Freed but failed—justice system leaves the innocent empty-handed
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
NLJ this week: Clarity on whistleblowing, settlements and tribunal limits
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll