Clinical negligence

Articles

CAB closures loom amid council cuts

Legal advice centres will be forced to close as local authority funding is cut, the head of Citizens Advice has warned.

Judge and jury

Could the English jury become the next victim of a Belgian political assassin? Richard Easton and David Rhodes hold court

Djanogly confirms 142 court closures

Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly told parliament this afternoon that the government would be going ahead with the closure of 142 local courts.

Vanishing point

Coupling costs reform with legal aid cuts could cause calamity for clinical negligence claimants, argues Malcolm Underhill

DWP cannot recover benefits overpayments, Supreme Court rules

The Department for Work and Pensions cannot recover welfare benefit payments through the courts where the claimant is not at fault, the Supreme Court has ruled.

LeO's plans revive concerns over naming and shaming

Publishing details of complaints handled by the legal services ombudsman is attracting growing support, with 82 per cent of respondents to an instant poll carried out following an evidence session in the House of Lords voting in favour.

Who you gonna call?

The green paper post-mortem paints a bleak picture of what civil legal aid provision will look like if the MoJ gets its way. For firms intent on continuing to provide legal aid services, the proposed ten per cent fee cut will slice such a large chunk off their thin profit margins that their very existence will be in question, possibly leaving only large volume suppliers in that space. Some sectors are already predicting that practices will have to turn away half of their clients, making substantial restructures, redundancies and closures a distinct possibility. So, as firms begin to digest the details of the coalition's consultation on legal aid cuts, the worst hit offer a snapshot of what their services may look like come the revolution.

Update: clinical negligence

Meningitis, risk of cerebral palsy, breast cancer, obstetrics - Dr Jock Mackenzie reports on another quarter in court for doctors defending clinical negligence claims