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Legislation / Legal
MoJ: An independent review of the Civil Justice Council (due to be complete in spring 2008) has been announced by the Ministry of Justice. The Civil Justice Council is an advisory public body with responsibility for overseeing & co-ordinating the modernisation of the civil justice system.
The review will examine in particular:
* the Council's strengths and weaknesses
* the effectiveness of its chosen ways of working and
* the ways in which the Council and its work should be adjusted to maximise its effectiveness in the future
MoJ: The Legal Services Commission and Ministry of Justice have announced steps that are being taken in order to proceed with the tender to establish a Panel of solicitors & barristers to represent defendants in major criminal cases including:
* A consultation has begun on a Funding Order that will allow solicitor firms who are on the Panel to instruct advocates who are not on the Panel. Consultation on the Funding Order will last for two weeks.
* Secondly, the contracts originally offered are being amended to enable Panel solicitors to instruct non-Panel advocates where necessary. The LSC will be offering these revised VHCC Panel contracts to all solicitor firms who successfully bid for VHCC work.
Press release ~ Proposed Amendment to the Criminal Defence Service (Funding) Order 2007 ~ LSC: Criminal Defence Service (CDS) ~ Ministry of Justice ~ Lord Carter's review of legal aid procurement ~ Criminal Defence Service (Funding) Order 2007 ~ The CPS : Graduated Fee Scheme - Manual of Guidance
ScotGov: Action is to be taken to ensure that people with two asbestos-related conditions continue to be eligible to claim for damages, as well as people with pleural plaques. Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill announced in November 2007 that a bill was to be introduced to the Scottish Parliament at the earliest opportunity to reverse the House of Lords judgement on pleural plaques.
However, it is possible that people who have been negligently exposed to asbestos and have developed asymptomatic asbestosis or pleural thickening may not be able to raise a claim for damages following the House of Lords Judgment. The Scottish Government intends to address this apparent anomaly by including these two conditions in the bill when it is introduced.
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