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As presently conceived, we fear that the changes will advance the interests of insurance companies at the cost of access to justice and fairness. This delay gives time to pause and re-consider.
The Law Society welcomed the Government's decision to defer civil litigation reforms.
These major changes to ‘no win no fee’ arrangements are part of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill (LASPO).
The delay until April 2013 was announced in the House of Lords last night.
Chief Executive of the Law Society, Desmond Hudson said:
“The delay will give a welcome breathing space for the Ministry of Justice to now properly consider the damaging effect these changes to 'no win, no fee' agreements will have on access to justice, particularly for middle England and those ineligible for legal aid.”
“The changes are complex and have been selected from a recent report from Lord Justice Jackson- despite his warning not to ‘cherry pick’ from the report.”
“As presently conceived, we fear that the changes will advance the interests of insurance companies at the cost of access to justice and fairness. This delay gives time to pause and re-consider.”
“We urge the government to consider all the representations made to them, including those made by victim groups and charities - so ably represented by members of the House of Lords in the debate on the changes last night - to the same extent that it has considered representations by the powerful insurance lobby.”
“We remain ready to meet the Government and anyone else to seek improvements to the proposals.”
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Notes to editors
Journalists please contact Rebecca Kiernan, Law Society press office on 020 7316 5592 for more information.
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The Law Society’s alternative proposals for saving the required £350 million from the civil legal aid budget.
Background: The changes to civil litigation involve ‘no win no fee’ arrangements. At present the losing defendant pays all of the costs and the claimant retains 100% of the damages. Under the proposed reforms injured victims will have their damages eroded by having to pay the success fees and after event insurance premiums which the wrongdoer is currently liable for. Despite the reforms also including an increase in damages of 10% claimants will still lose a significant proportion of their damages.