Relaunch: UKAJI call for blogs and opinions on Covid-19 and administrative justice

Relaunch: UKAJI call for blogs and opinions on Covid-19 and administrative justice

What now seems a lifetime ago, on 24 March 2020 UKAJI launched its initial call for blogs and opinions on Covid-19 and administrative justice. In that time, UKAJI has published a range of pieces on the subject, including:

• Sam Guy, ‘Judicial review and Covid-19: Reflections on the role of crowdfunding’, available here;
• Joe Tomlinson, Jack Maxwell, Jo Hynes, and Emma Marshall, ‘Judicial review during the Covid-19 pandemic’, Part I and Part II;
• Administrative Justice Council Webinar on the impact of COVID-19 on administrative justice (29 April 2020), available here;
• Eri Mountbatten-O’Malley, ‘The Emperor has no clothes: A sober analysis of the Government response to Covid-19’, available here;
• Lee Marsons, ‘Covid-19 and the UK Administrative State’, available here;
• Lee Marsons, ‘Delayed publication of coronavirus regulations and legal certainty – concerns and protections’, available here;
• Emmanuel Slautsky, ‘Public law values in times of lockdown: lessons from the Belgian case’, available here;
• David Whalley, ‘Jumping in with both feet?’, available here;
• Johnny Tan, ‘Online hearings and the quality of justice’, available here;
• Margaret Doyle, ‘Going online in a hurry’, available here;
• Stefan Theil, ‘Germany – a federal executive power grab?’, available here; and
• Jaime Lindsey, ‘Virtual hearings, participation and openness in the Court of Protection’, available here.

In light of the announcement that there is to be a second lockdown beginning on Thursday 5 November in England, UKAJI is today relaunching the call for blogs and opinions. These should consider how the pandemic is, has, will do, should, or could affect administrative justice. These blogs and opinion pieces may consider but need not be limited to:

• Changes to judicial scrutiny of executive action via judicial review;
• Parliamentary scrutiny of legislation to combat the virus;
• The consequences of school closures, particularly for children with SEND;
• How online, home, and distance working may affect administrative decision-making;
• How changes to tribunal procedures may affect the fairness of the proceedings;
• Changes to the professional practice of administrative justice practitioners, such as mediators;
• The standards against which ombuds should assess medical conduct and practice during this time in future complaints;
• Changes to the duties placed on local government and administrative officials.

UKAJI’s blog writing guidelines can be found here and UKAJI’s definition of administrative justice can also be found at that link.

We appreciate at this time that scholars and practitioners may not have sufficient time to write a full-length blog piece of 1500-2000 words. Therefore, we are also inviting short opinion pieces of up to 500 words where the contributor succinctly outlines their thoughts on a current administrative justice issue, so as to provoke discussion. These need not be fully referenced but may be in the style of initial, instinctive reactions that should be borne in mind by the administrative justice community.

If these opinion pieces prove successful, UKAJI will make greater use of these pieces for all administrative justice issues in future.