The ‘death zone’, often quoted in the context of ascents of Mount Everest, is that area above 8,000 meters where you have limited time to achieve your objective – or you die. It is in my mind because I am currently ploughing through a rather tedious account of the 1920s attempts on the world’s highest … Continue reading Court Modernisation, the National Audit Office and the Death Zone
32 institutions and individuals had submitted evidence to the House of Commons Judiciary Committee in relation to Court and Tribunal reforms by the end of 8th April. Dipping in and out of these reveals a number of themes and a number of specific areas of concern from preservation of the rule of law (Public Law … Continue reading Court Modernisation, Empiricism and Digital Exclusion
We know how the court modernisation programme for England and Wales will end. Some equivalent of George W Bush will proclaim on a stand in for the USS Abraham Lincoln that the mission has been triumphantly accomplished. The reality in the courts, as in world politics, is likely to be more complex. One reason that … Continue reading Court Modernisation: research, consultancy and measurement
Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service has replied today to the high level House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the access to justice evaluation of its court modernisation programme. Read it and hear the sound of one hand clapping. The command of the PAC was for the HMCTS ‘to write to the Committee … Continue reading Access to Justice and Modernising the Courts: the sound of one hand clapping
Remember that old song of Bob Dylan’s about Hurricane Carter? It contains the lines – ‘the authorities … put him in a prison cell the one time he could a-been The Champion of the world.’ They have intermittently resonated around my head for over 40 years. The words came back as I walked down to St Paul’s … Continue reading ODR in the courts: in prison the one time it could have been the champion of the world