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27 February 2020 / Dominic Regan
Issue: 7877 / Categories: Opinion , Personal injury
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PI reforms: on the road to nowhere (Pt 2)

Dominic Regan hopes the proposed changes to injury litigation will be abandoned, not just postponed, before more damage is done

Members of the judiciary are surprisingly passionate. I wrote an article here last month about what I perceived to be problematic about impending changes to injury litigation. This provoked an outpouring, the likes of which I have not experienced in 30 years. Judges and lawyers made me aware of their own grave misgivings, now only partly alleviated by the government’s announcement last month that the proposed changes will be ushered in in August not April.

The problem highlighted by several is that the road traffic reforms whenever and however they are implemented will cause a logjam and district judges, already close to, if not at, breaking point, will be overwhelmed. In order to alleviate the burden upon the civil judiciary a concept called ‘Push Down’ has gained momentum. The idea is that work can be cascaded downwards. Some High Court cases could be remitted to the Circuit

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Clarke Willmott—Matthew Roach

Clarke Willmott—Matthew Roach

Partner joins commercial property team in Taunton office

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Londstanding London firm appoints new senior partner

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Commercial team in London welcomes technology specialist as partner

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Disputing parties are expected to take part in alternative dispute resolution (ADR), where this is suitable for their case. At what point, however, does refusing to participate cross the threshold of ‘unreasonable’ and attract adverse costs consequences?
When it comes to free legal advice, demand massively outweighs supply. 'Millions of people are excluded from access to justice as they don’t have anywhere to turn for free advice—or don’t know that they can ask for help,' Bhavini Bhatt, development director at the Access to Justice Foundation, writes in this week's NLJ
When an ex-couple is deciding who gets what in the divorce or civil partnership dissolution, when is it appropriate for a third party to intervene? David Burrows, NLJ columnist and solicitor advocate, considers this thorny issue in this week’s NLJ
NLJ's latest Charities Appeals Supplement has been published in this week’s issue
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