Maurice Sunkin

What Price Sponsorship

The last few years have witnessed a rapid growth in commercial sponsorship of legal education. Prior to 1988 very few institutions had any significant commercial sponsorship. By the academic year 1990/1991 the picture had changed dramatically. As well as widespread commercial sponsorship of library facilities and research projects there were at least eighty-one sponsored staff posts at United Kingdom law schools.1 This is a trend that is likely to continue as an increasing number of law schools actively seek sponsorship money.

Trends in Judicial Review and the Human Rights Act

It was widely predicted that the Human Rights Act 1998 would have a significant effect on the incidence of litigation against public bodies. This article considers the early impact of the Act on the use of judicial review to challenge public decision-making. It compares the use of judicial review prior to the coming into effect of the Act, focusing on the subject areas litigated and the types of respondent challenged, with the trends during the first five months of Acts operation. Contrary to predictions, an increase in the use of judicial review has not materialized. Nor, as yet, has there been a significant change in the nature of judicial review litigation.

The Positive Effect of Judicial Review on the Quality of Local Government

(2010). The Positive Effect of Judicial Review on the Quality of Local Government. Judicial Review: Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 337-342.

The Regionalisation of Judicial Review: Constitutional Authority, Access to Justice and Specialisation of Legal Services in Public Law

Since April 2009 judicial reviews may be dealt with at regional centres and in Cardiff. This change significantly relaxed the hitherto highly centralised system of judicial review in England and Wales. The main aims were to improve access to public law redress by enabling cases to be listed and heard at the most appropriate regional location. Despite recognition of the need to improve regional access, fears exist that this reform will threaten the standing and authority of judicial review in this jurisdiction; that it will contribute to a fragmentation of judicial review and, in the regions, reduce the quality of public law adjudication, legal advice and representation. Drawing on an empirical study on the regional use of judicial review, this paper assesses these matters and considers the early effects of regionalisation on access to judicial review and the development of regional markets for legal services in public law.

Regionalisation of the Administrative Court and Access to Justice

2. In 2006, a Judicial Working Group was given the task2 of considering the deployment of Lord Justices of Appeal and High Court judges outside London.3 Its remit was not specifically to address the severe geographical imbalance and London-centricty of administrative law actions, nor was it to investigate measures for combating the interminable delays experienced by the Administrative Court in London. Nevertheless, the final proposals to decentralise the Administrative Court may have a significant effect in relation to both these important matters.

The Use of Statistics in Proposing Reforms to the Public Funding of Judicial Review Litigation: A Critical View

2. However, policy makers do consult available statistical data, and their interpretation of the figures can have significant influence on policy initiatives that have important ramifications for the everyday practice of public law. In 2009, two consultations took place which utilised court statistics to propose policy changes, namely Civil Litigation Costs Review by Lord Justice Jackson (“the Jackson Report”1) and the Ministry of Justice’s consultation paper, Legal Aid: Refocusing on Priority Cases.2

Judicial Review in Action: An Empirical Perspective

2. The general aim of this project is to assess the effects of recent reforms to the judicial review procedure on access to justice and the dynamics of judicial review litigation. Its focus is on how the reforms have impacted upon the operation of the permission stage including the interaction between the parties, the efficiency of the procedure, the quality of decisions, and factors affecting the timing and nature of settlements. This is the first empirical research study into the operation of judicial review since the implementation of the post-Bowman2 reforms in 2000.