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26 March 2010 / Patrick Allen
Issue: 7410 / Categories: Opinion , Costs
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Just the beginning

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Much of what has been written on the Jackson report so far suggests that the time for debate is over. This is not correct. The debate is just beginning.

Much of what has been written on the Jackson report so far suggests that the time for debate is over. This is not correct. The debate is just beginning. We can see that costs in personal injury cases are the main target of the report. The Jackson package has the potential to cause grave disadvantage to injured claimants and their ability to bring forward their claims.

We therefore have an obligation to subject the proposals to rigorous scrutiny to see whether they represent an improvement on the current system or a setback to access to justice.

Principles

Civilised society must have an effective system of civil and criminal justice which ensures that all citizens, rich or poor can bring their claims to court. Before 1950, we had no legal aid. Only the wealthy and some

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