Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
You can be sure with Shaws this year, 27 Dec 2008
I always like Shaw's Directory when it comes out each year as it continues to offer the `one stop' factor I look for, and has the basic information I need for my practice. The 2008/09 edition is no exception. It is a detailed volume in five parts with three appendices containing comprehensive statements on just about everything you could conceivably want to find out about in one place within fiddling about on the internet.
This year, following the successful implementation of a unified system of courts administration in England & Wales, the Criminal Proceedings etc. (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007 has heralded a major reformation of the Scottish Court Service so editors Sarah Bruty and Kelly Young have worked very hard to implement the new information set out here for the first time.
WHAT DO YOU GET WITH SHAW'S?
For over 250 years, Shaw & Sons have been supplying the legal profession and local government with specialist books specifically for that market. And each year, they produce this excellent "Shaw's Directory of Courts" which is a more detailed and comprehensive version of the various `Courts Guides' which a number of publishers also market.
Shaw & Sons provide full details on the recent courts re-structuring exercises whilst retaining the traditional layout which many will be familiar with. The publishers have also taken the opportunity, whilst updating the information from the judiciary websites, to reflect recent streamlining of HMCS, introducing helpful new features.
Your clerks will find that all Crown, County and Magistrates' Courts under each region's administration have been indexed within the Regional listing, for ease of location of courts within the dedicated Parts. Also included are extensive listings of Probate Courts in England and Wales, including names, addresses and contact numbers for all registrars, as well as normal opening times.
THE INTERNET & EMAIL
My main concerns again rest with HMCS's reluctance to expand their use and practices regarding the internet and to ignore much of it as being dangerous and not secure. With further technological changes taking place at the moment, I would like to see the Directory include more detailed IT sections in the next few years with web links and email addresses. I suspect many practitioners who would like to use direct email and internet links with the courts but remain thoroughly mystified and dissatisfied with the attitude of some courts towards any form of IT change. However, this may not happen for some time although I feel it is inevitable to give clients a proper 21st century service.
The Directory, however, is still the definitive source of information on Her Majesty's Courts Service with its related offices. The Directory gives that extra, additional information which your admin staff often need and waste time trying to find- it provides accurate, up-to-date details of contact names, telephone and fax (yes, still fax!) numbers, addresses, document exchange numbers, court codes and the normal times and the sitting of our courts.
Comprehensive United Kingdom Coverage
Full information is supplied in one source book for the Supreme and Appellate Courts, the High Court, Crown and County Courts, Magistrates' Courts, Courts of Summary Jurisdiction, Sheriff and District Courts in Scotland, Coroners, the Probate Courts, the Crown Prosecution Service, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service... and Penal Establishments - without having to look at a Prisons Guide.
This is the most comprehensive reference work of its type and it has modernised to meet the current demands of the courts system, and for those who have dealings with them.
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