Judicial review in Wales

This one of three submissions to the Commission on Justice in Wales, focusing on Judicial Review in Wales.

Judicial Review in Wales

The other submissions are on digitalisation and justice in Wales and The effects of LASPO on civil legal aid in Wales.

In this submission we note the following key conclusions about judicial review in Wales:

• The ordinary civil (non-asylum and immigration) judicial review caseload has declined across the England and Wales Administrative Court in recent years;

• Wales generates fewer such ordinary civil claims per-head of population than England;

• The proportion of claims issued by unrepresented litigants (LIPs) is increasing across the Administrative Court, including in the Cardiff Administrative Court;

• The impacts of legal aid reforms, and to judicial review procedures and costs, may have had a disproportionate impact outside London, including in Wales;

• Barristers based at chambers in Wales are instructed in only a very small proportion of the total number of claims handled by the Administrative Court in Cardiff; and

• The judicial review caseload pertaining to Wales is diverse, often involving a complex mixture of devolved and non-devolved law and policy, EU law (and to a  lesser extent international law) relevant to the particular claim in a variety of different ways. This complexity presents challenges and opportunities for legal education, legal practice and justice in Wales.