Local News 9
Society’s Committee meets with local MPs
Having been nominated to the
General Committee to take over the
role of Chair of the Family Sub
Committee only on 26th November
2013, I was thrown into the thick of
things by attending at the meeting
for local MPs at the Liverpool Law
Society on Friday 29th November
2013.
The MPs who attended were Dr
John Pugh MP and George
Howarth MP.
There were presentations to the MPs
on the areas of civil legal aid, the
future of litigation, the criminal
legal aid cuts, employment law
changes, family law and also
information as to the Liverpool Law
Society and University of Liverpool
research project on the impact of
Legal Aid cuts.
2013 has been a big year of change
as a result of the introduction of
LAPSO and the recent changes in
personal injury and also the effect of
fees being introduced for
employment tribunals.
The overall picture is that all aspects
of law are facing increasing
pressures and that we are in
challenging and changing times.
In relation to the impact of LAPSO
on family law the MPs were both
very interested to hear of the
potentially unintended consequences
of the recent changes in particular
of the massive reduction of take up
of mediation and increasing litigants
in person in court.
On the positive side though there
were reports to the MPs on the
International Festival for Business
in 2014 and the opportunities that
this brings to the legal sector in the
Liverpool area.
Dr John Pugh MP
The MPs also updated the
Committee as to the sort of queries
they receive from their constituents
George Howarth MP
and the committee wanted to
ascertain whether there is a trend of
people seeking support from the
MPs, given the recent changes.
I was obviously new to the
Committee and the process but I
found it an interesting and
informative meeting and that it is a
very useful platform for the local
Law Society to have the ear of the
MPs on a regular basis.
The next meeting is Friday 21st
March 2014.
Adele Schofield
Chair of Family Sub Committee
and partner at The Berkson Globe
Partnership
Employment Judge’s Forum
The fourth annual Employment
Judge’s Forum took place at the
Liverpool Law Society on 20
November 2013. The event was
hosted by Emlyn Williams, Chair of
the Employment Law SubCommittee and Regional
Employment Judge Dr Brian Doyle
once again generously gave up his
time to face questions from
Merseyside’s employment lawyers.
REJ Doyle gave all those present a
good insight into the latest issues
facing the employment tribunal
system, such as the impact of the
introduction of the new
Employment Tribunal Rules and
employment tribunal fees in July
2013. Questions ranged from “is
there a plan to reduce the number of
Judges sitting at Liverpool
Tribunal?” (no!), “how are Judges
approaching the new initial sift of
claims and responses?” and “what
are your views on Calderbank letters
or letters sent without prejudice to
costs?” to the occasional more light
hearted question such as “what
would you like for Christmas?”.
REJ Doyle even disclosed that if he
had not been an academic or a
Judge he would have liked to have
been Alan Gilzean wh