The new president of the Association of District Judges has warned that the radical proposals to reform the civil justice system are under threat.
District Judge Godfrey Evans, who sits at the Cardiff Civil Justice Centre and is an assistant recorder on the Wales and Chester Circuit, was elected by the association's 340 members at its annual meeting. He succeeds Dick Greenslade.
He has said he is anxious that Lord Woolf's reforms should not be neglected.
“There are worrying signs about the Woolf Report,” he said.
“The Government has warned that no new money will be available to assist in implementation and, as we approach the General Election, the Labour party has not made any positive statement as to its intentions about the report were it to form the next government.”
He said it would be tragic if the initiative ended up on the shelf, “destined to gather dust”.
The association elected District Judges Michael Hawthorne and Richard Holloway as senior and junior vice-presidents, respectively.
