The Law Society has very serious concerns about the potential impact of the government's rushed implementation of its civil justice reforms on the legal services sector and on access to justice.
We have raised our concerns directly with the secretary of state for justice Chris Grayling and the junior justice minister Helen Grant. We will be meeting with Helen Grant to discuss our concerns in greater detail in the coming weeks.
However, it is vital that we let parliament, and the Ministry of Justice, know the extent to which the unnecessarily premature implementation of these reforms will impact upon solicitors' firms as businesses, and consequently on the ability of members of the public to seek legitimate legal redress.
The Society's Government and Parliamentary Affairs and Law Reform teams have produced a 'campaigner briefing', which provides details of how to lobby your local MP directly on this issue.
In particular, the briefing contains information about requesting that your local MP raises the issue with the secretary of state directly via Justice Question Time in the House of Commons.