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New lease of life

21 May 2010 / David Locke
Issue: 7418 / Categories: Features , Costs , Personal injury , Limitation
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David Locke believes a new ADR protocol could resuscitate the Jackson proposals

In 2007 a consultant urogynaecologist was suspended by an NHS Trust on Merseyside when concerns about his practice came to light. A detailed clinical review followed, initially conducted by the trust and subsequently with independent assistance. Perhaps inevitably, towards the end of 2009 the first legal claims were intimated. The numbers increased exponentially and within a few months more than 200 claims had been notified.

Importantly, the notification of these claims coincided broadly with the publication of Lord Justice Jackson’s Review of Civil Litigation Costs and the pervasive sense that something innovative needed to be done to reform the system. In that context, a comprehensive and therein unique protocol for resolving the cases and managing costs was devised.

It is hoped that the protocol may provide a blueprint for the management of similar litigation in the future, although there is no reason why this should be restricted only to the

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Commercial leasehold, the defence of insanity and ‘consent’ in the criminal law are among the next tranche of projects for the Law Commission
The Bar has a culture of ‘impunity’ and ‘collusive bystanding’ in which making a complaint is deemed career-ending due to a ‘cohort of untouchables’ at the top, Baroness Harriet Harman KC has found
Lawyers have broadly welcomed plans to electronically tag up to 22,000 more offenders, scrap most prison terms below a year and make prisoners ‘earn’ early release
David Lammy, Ellie Reeves and Baroness Levitt have taken up office at the Ministry of Justice, following the cabinet reshuffle
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