TLEF joins forces with The Nuffield Foundation and UCL Laws to host international event with contributions from world-leading scholars

The Legal Education Foundation has partnered with the Nuffield Foundation and UCL Laws to deliver an international conference exploring the future of justice systems and the research needed to understand and evaluate new developments.

The England and Wales justice system is undergoing rapid change in an ambitious reform programme designed to transform processes in criminal, civil and family courts, and tribunals. The move to online determination of disputes and court closures represents a shift away from the model through which the principles of public justice have traditionally been advanced. These changes have implications for citizens, the judiciary, the legal profession, and court staff as they adapt to new mechanisms for delivering justice. The reforms also create important opportunities for generating robust data on court processes, the individuals that use them and case outcomes. The wide-ranging nature of the reform programme represents a challenge to the existing community of justice system researchers and funders. The conference aimed to highlight the range of skills, methods and approaches that will be needed to properly understand the impact of justice system reform.

This international conference, jointly convened by UCL Faculty of Laws, the Nuffield Foundation and The Legal Education Foundation brought together leading researchers, judiciary, funders and practitioners to explore these issues and learn from existing best practice. Speakers and panel participants included:

• Baroness Hale, President of the UK Supreme Court
• Professor Richard Susskind OBE
• Shannon Salter, Chair British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal
• Susan Acland-Hood, Chief Executive HMCTS
• Sir Ernest Ryder, Senior President of Tribunals
• Professor Judith Resnik, Yale Law School
• Professor Tom Tyler, Yale Law School
• Professor Jim Greiner, Harvard Law School
• Joshua Rozenberg QC (Hon)
• Judge Antoine Garapon, France
• Judge Dory Reiling, Netherlands

The aim of the symposium was to develop a sense of the emerging priorities for research and a consensus on the level of commitment needed to build capacity to deliver this research agenda.

A full report of proceedings will be made available on the TLEF website from the 30th May 2018.