Access to Justice: Beyond the Policies and Politics of Austerity

by Ellie Palmer (Editor), Tom Cornford (Editor), Yseult Marique (Editor), Audrey Guinchard (Editor)

Overview

Building on a series of ESRC funded seminars, this edited collection of expert papers by academics and practitioners is concerned with access to civil and administrative justice in constitutional democracies, where, for the past decade governments have reassessed their priorities for funding legal services: embracing 'new technologies' that reconfigure the delivery and very concept of legal services; cutting legal aid budgets; and introducing putative cost-cutting measures for the administration of courts, tribunals and established systems for the delivery of legal advice and assistance. Without underplaying the future potential of technological innovation, or the need for a fair and rational system for the prioritisation and funding of legal services, the book questions whether the absolutist approach to the dictates of austerity and the promise of new technologies that have driven the Coalition Government's policy, can be squared with obligations to protect the fundamental right of access to justice, in the unwritten constitution of the United Kingdom.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781849467346
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/28/2016
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Ellie Palmer is an Emeritus Professor of Law and Tom Cornford, Yseult Marique and Audrey Guinchard are Senior Lecturers in Law, all at the University of Essex.

Table of Contents

Foreword vii

Acknowledgements ix

List of Contributors xiii

Introduction Tom Cornford Audrey Guinchard Yseult Marique Ellie Palmer 1

Part I Access to Justice: Theoretical, Legal and Policy Background

1 Access to Justice: The View from the Law Society Andrew Caplen 13

2 The Meaning of Access to Justice Tom Cornford 27

3 Principles of Access: Comparing Health and Legal Services Albert Weak 41

4 Europe to the Rescue? EU Law, the ECHR and Legal Aid Steve Peers 53

Part II Pressure Points on the Justice System

5 Access to Justice in Administrative Law and Administrative Justice Tom Mullen 69

6 Immigration and Access to justice: A Critical Analysis of Recent Restrictions Robert Thomas 105

7 The Impact of Austerity and Structural Reforms on the Accessibility of Tribunal Justice Stewart Wright 135

8 Thirteen Years of Advice Delivery in Islington: A Case Study Lorna Reid 143

9 Complexity, Housing and Access to Justice Andrew Brookes Caroline Hunter 157

10 Access to Justice in the Employment Tribunal: Private Disputes or Public Concerns? Nicole Busby Morag McDermont 175

11 Renegotiating Family Justice Mavis Maclean CBE 197

12 Access to Justice for Young People: Beyond the Policies and Politics of Austerity James Kenrick Ellie Palmer 211

Part III Alternative Approaches to Funding Legal Services

13 A Revolution in 'Lawyering'? Implications for Welfare Law of Alternative Business Structures Frank H Stephen 237

14 CourtNav and Pro Bono in an Age of Austerity Paul Yates 249

15 The French Approach to Access to Justice Audrey Guinchard Simon Wesley 259

16 How Scotland has Approached the Challenge of Austerity Sarah O'Neill 287

Index 303

Editorial Reviews

Running parallel to the steady erosion, at least in England and Wales, of what we had come, perhaps complacently, to regard as an entrenched human right, the seminar series on which this book is based looked carefully and realistically at both sides of the issue: the shrinking availability of public funds and the practical possibilities of doing more with less. The volume seeks in particular to distinguish between those inroads into access to justice which are unacceptable on any principled view and those which are either unavoidable or at least negotiable. Wherever possible it does so, in contrast sometimes to central government, from an ascertained evidence base.

From the Publisher