In a speech to legal and business advisors, Kenneth Clarke announced that ‘the Government wants to see more people at home choosing mediation before embarking on a lengthy and expensive court process’.
His speech, at an event hosted by TheCityUK, outlined a number of initiatives the Government is undertaking to further the interests of the UK’s legal businesses, which provided £23 billion to the UK economy in 2009.
During the speech the Justice Secretary highlighted the issue of dispute resolution. More and more people from overseas are choosing to make use of UK courts to help resolve issues, while the Government wants to see more people at home choosing mediation before embarking on a lengthy and expensive court process. The measures being introduced to encourage this include automatic referral to mediation in small claims cases, as well as plans to tighten up on referral fees and ‘no win, no fee’ claims.
Download a copy of Kenneth Clarke’s speech in full or just read the press release.