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The government has fought off amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill that would have reversed the impact of the Jackson reforms on several areas of practice. It has also rejected the judge’s recent call to fund expert reports in clinical negligence cases with legal aid.

The government is to ban referral fees for personal injury work, it announced today. However, it has no plans to take action on referral fees paid to estate agents for conveyancing. The intention is for a regulatory offence, enforced by the relevant regulators

The war of words over the Jackson reforms restarted today ahead of MPs resuming scrutiny of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill tomorrow. The Association of British Insurers has put together a ‘consortium for compensation reform’ made up of 16 leading retailers and business groups.

A code of conduct that aims to add stability and credibility to the market for third-party litigation funding could be agreed in less than three months after four years of stalled progress, Legal Futures can reveal. The Civil Justice Council has drafted in Irwin Mitchell senior partner Michael Napier to chair the working party that has been trying to draft a code since 2007.

Government plans to reduce the amount of litigation in the county courts by introducing mandatory pre-action directions will undermine the constitutional principle of access to the courts, the Civil Justice Council (CJC) has warned. The news comes as the CJC’s role in implementing the Jackson reforms has also been revealed.