JUSTICE today publishes the second edition of To Assist the Court, our guide to the conduct of third party interventions in the public interest. We are grateful to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, who have acted as our corporate partner in this project.
In this new Guide, JUSTICE and Freshfields explore what it means to be a responsible intervener in the domestic courts in England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland and before the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice in the European Union.
We also consider the impact of new costs rules for interveners, which apply in England and Wales, in the High Court and the Court of Appeal, following the introduction of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015.
Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, in his Foreword, praises its usefulness for judges and lawyers:
“I was not the only person dismayed by section 87 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015…Clearly this provision could have a chilling effect on interventions.
But every cloud has a silver lining, for JUSTICE has responded…by producing this invaluable and detailed guide to intervention. If it is followed, as it should be, it will assist interveners to ensure that they always add value to the court’s deliberations and are not at risk of being penalized in costs.”
JUSTICE hopes that To Assist the Court will be a useful resource for staff and Trustees in public interest organisations considering intervention and to lawyers instructed in cases where an intervention is involved. That public sector organisations with expertise and experience can help make better law in constitutionally and legally complex cases is undisputed.
We are making copies available on our website – alongside a database of our own current and archive interventions – and hope that it will be shared across the public sector and within the legal community.