28 July 2023
Lack of personnel is creating havoc in court. In this week’s NLJ, former district judge Stephen Gold writes on ‘the mess’ in family courts where ‘frequent and widespread difficulties’ are arising due to a shortage of qualified legal representatives to cross-examine vulnerable witnesses.
The shortage is leading to an extraordinary and contradictory predicament where judges may have to ask the questions themselves ‘notwithstanding the guidance that the court should not itself conduct the cross-examination’.
Following this theme, Gold’s 'Civil way' column reports on the lack of compliant bids received for duty solicitors in housing possession cases.
He covers a highly relevant case that missed the deadline for inclusion in the Senior Courts Costs Office guide, and discusses consumer protection following the recent Supreme Court judgment on the Quincecare duty where a customer was tricked by fraudsters.
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