Geoff Hoon, parliamentary secretary at the Lord Chancellor's department, has made his first visit to a law centre since taking office. He spent two hours talking to staff at Chesterfield Law Centre. Darrell Alvey, chair of the centre's management committee, said Hoon had appeared impressed with the work the centre did. “We hope that this will influence the government when it conducts its review into civil justice and legal aid reforms to recognise the importance of law centres,” he added.
Closing the doors on justice in the counties
Andrew Millington charts the growing number of magistrates courts closures. Andrew Millington is a freelance journalist. Nearly a third of magistrates courts in England and Wales have closed in the past 10 years, according to a survey carried out by The Lawyer. Since 1987 more than 160 out of nearly 550 courthouses have shut in […]
