In brief: Society condemns small claims move

The Government should have boosted advice provision and allowed more time for district judges to be properly trained before raising the small claims limit in the county courts to £3,000, according to Suzanne Burn, secretary of the Law Society's civil litigation committee. The Lord Chancellor's decision not to exempt tenants taking disrepair or illegal eviction cases against landlords from the scope of the new small claims procedure has also been criticised by Chancery Lane, which says tenants "will have to fight their case alone against well resourced and professionally represented landlords".