*/
Dispense with lawyers and deal with cases worth up to £25,000 using online courts and case officers, a senior judge has suggested in radical proposals to shake up the civil justice system.
In his interim Civil Courts Structure Review report, Lord Justice Briggs said there is a ‘clear and pressing need’ to create an online court for claims up to £25,000 to give litigants effective access to justice without the ‘disproportionate cost of using lawyers’. Cases will be dealt with in three stages, beginning with a largely automated, interactive online process to identify the issues and lodge documentary evidence, followed by conciliation and case management by case officers, before resolution by a judge.
Responding to the proposals Chairman of the Bar, Chantal-Aimée Doerries QC, accepted that the ‘stranglehold’ of paper ‘needs to be broken’ and agreed that technology has the potential to help reduce the cost and complexity of the court system.
But Doerries warned that removing lawyers from civil proceedings below a certain monetary value might not achieve the desired objectives of the Government’s court reform programme, particularly coming on top of legal aid cuts and increased court fees.
Removing lawyers, she said, ‘effectively means leaving people to fend for themselves, which could result in a denial of justice’, adding that the Bar Council will be examining the proposals very carefully.
The proposals will be considered in a formal consultation, which closes at the end of May, before Briggs’ final review is completed at the beginning of the summer.
Dispense with lawyers and deal with cases worth up to £25,000 using online courts and case officers, a senior judge has suggested in radical proposals to shake up the civil justice system.
In his interim Civil Courts Structure Review report, Lord Justice Briggs said there is a ‘clear and pressing need’ to create an online court for claims up to £25,000 to give litigants effective access to justice without the ‘disproportionate cost of using lawyers’. Cases will be dealt with in three stages, beginning with a largely automated, interactive online process to identify the issues and lodge documentary evidence, followed by conciliation and case management by case officers, before resolution by a judge.
Responding to the proposals Chairman of the Bar, Chantal-Aimée Doerries QC, accepted that the ‘stranglehold’ of paper ‘needs to be broken’ and agreed that technology has the potential to help reduce the cost and complexity of the court system.
But Doerries warned that removing lawyers from civil proceedings below a certain monetary value might not achieve the desired objectives of the Government’s court reform programme, particularly coming on top of legal aid cuts and increased court fees.
Removing lawyers, she said, ‘effectively means leaving people to fend for themselves, which could result in a denial of justice’, adding that the Bar Council will be examining the proposals very carefully.
The proposals will be considered in a formal consultation, which closes at the end of May, before Briggs’ final review is completed at the beginning of the summer.
The Chair of the Bar reports back
By Kem Kemal, CEO, Henry Dannell
By BSK Financial Planning
Mário Barroso, Head of R&D and Method Development at AlphaBiolabs
Susie Griffin on the admin that keeps barristers from billable work
Clement Cowley, Partner at The Penny Group, explains how global events can influence the performance of pensions and ISAs, and why taking a long-term approach to investing is often the most effective strategy
Kick off your career at the Bar Council’s Pupillage Fair this October – it’s one of the most valuable opportunities for aspiring barristers, says Amelia Clegg
Join us on Saturday 21 November 2026 at Leeds Beckett University and see for yourself why the North continues to be an exceptional place to build a career at the Bar
The golden age of advocacy? David Langwallner pays homage to the filmic if contentious barrister Sir Edward Carson and some of his contemporaries
Henry Fingerhut outlines what the Bar Standards Board AI guidance means for early career barristers
Not yet, says Jacob Turner. Regulation, unlike the technology itself, is a domain the legal profession can still control
