Dec 9th 2016, 22:09

FUNDAMENTAL ADVICE FOR LAY PEOPLE AND LAWYERS ALIKE COVERING MODERN TRIBUNAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURES

An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers

This comprehensive book by the superb Edward Jacobs covers the integrated tribunal system created by the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 with fundamental advice of great relevance to unrepresented parties.


The Legal Action Group always excel themselves with the advice they give practitioners and lay people alike with their mission to bring some additional help and access to justice for those at the very bottom of the system… and they do it so well here with an explanation of tribunal work which can be daunting for many because, let’s face it, it can be more formal than some of today’s lower courts (at least that is our view!)


This new handbook for 2016 provides what LAG call “a structured approach” which is highly practical in relation to the procedure and practice of tribunals, setting them in the context of the nature of tribunals, their proceedings and jurisdiction setting the rules of procedure in context and providing a framework for analyzing and understanding the practices that apply to the users in what can be an alarming jurisdiction for the uninitiated.

With the new fourth edition of “Tribunal Practice and Procedure” Jacobs has given us “the most comprehensive and authoritative guide to the integrated tribunal system created by the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007” and we really have difficulty finding anything else on the market which is of a comparable standard today for its price and simplicity.

In the three and a half years since the previous edition, the tribunal system has continued to expand. It explains fluently the work of the Property Chamber which has joined the First-tier Tribunal. In addition, the jurisdictions of the Chambers comprising the First-tier Tribunal have steadily increased as new rights of appeal have been created, and the Upper Tribunal's judicial review function has been greatly expanded to the consternation of some users.

As well as dealing with the rules of procedure, this specialist manual contains great practical advice for tribunal members themselves and those who appear before them so it should be required reading and available and “on show” at all tribunals (and we think it probably is), which is a tribute both to LAG and Edward Jacobs’ work.

For parties and their representatives, the handbook deals with obtaining and assessing evidence, writing decisions, applying for adjournments, techniques of questioning and tribunal advocacy thus making it of fundamental significance to those starting their legal careers as well as oldies like us.

There is no question that this is essential reading for tribunal judges and panel members, representatives and anyone who appears before the tribunal or is interested in how they work in the civil justice process in the early twenty-first century as we embark on the most massive changes to the business of law since the Judicature Acts: digitisation.

The publication date is cited as at 2016.

This is highly recommended reading for anyone preparing cases for or representing at any tribunal under the new integrated system -Adviser