Call for submissions: Ombudsmen, Tribunals and Administrative Justice section of the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law

Lee Marsons, Senior Researcher, Public Law Project

I am part of the editorial team at the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, specifically organising the Ombudsmen, Tribunals and Administrative Justice section of the Journal. I thank Essex CAJI for allowing me to use this post to invite article submissions for the section.

The Journal defines “administrative justice” broadly, using both commonly accepted approaches: the institutional approach, focused on types and forms of remedies when there are deficiencies in first instance decision-making, such as ombuds, tribunals and commissioners and the normative approach, focused on the principles and values which should underpin access to justice.  Essex CAJI’s own definition is very useful in this regard.

The next issue of the section will be published in early 2025, with the deadline for submission being in late 2024. There is no word limit, though pieces will typically be between 4,000 for shorter analysis pieces and up to 12,000 words for full research pieces. Analysis pieces are good options for setting out early trends in case law, top-line evaluations of legislation, or practical issues arising among practitioners. Submissions will go through an initial review by the editor and thereafter a blind peer review process. So long as there are no conflicts of interest, I am happy to take suggestions for peer reviewers, particularly for specialist pieces.

In my September 2023 editorial for the section, I identified four key strategic priorities:

1. Developing ‘applied administrative justice’ scholarship consciously directed at resolving practical administrative justice problems. With the new government likely being more open – or at least not as closed – to civil justice reform and administrative justice approaches, this is an exciting time to foreground applied research;
2. Expanding the interdisciplinary reach and content of the section, particularly to mental health and accounting, by actively inviting submissions from researchers outside of law; and
3. Encouraging early career researchers to become more involved in the section. In this regard, I especially ask readers to flag this post with postgraduate students working on administrative justice issues.

While I invite pieces on any empirical, practical or theoretical theme related to administrative justice, in my editorial I noted that I am particularly excited to develop research into four themes:

1. Money and administrative justice, encouraging researchers to grapple with the financial benefits of their proposals and the effectiveness of different funding mechanisms;
2. Mental health and administrative justice, particularly through engaging with the fields of “therapeutic jurisprudence” and “law and emotion”;
3. New technologies and administrative justice, particularly how virtual delivery changes experiences of public bodies; and
4. Hybridity and administrative justice, examining the complicated range of publics, privates, and charitables involved in modern public service delivery.

If you have any pieces looking for a home or would like to talk about a potential submission, please consider the Journal of Social Welfare and Family. I can be contacted at l.marsons@publiclawproject.org.uk.