This project considers the nature and purpose of civil law in the 21st century to ask what we can and should expect of civil justice in the post-Jackson Reform era. These theoretical questions centre on access to justice and how we can define, or redefine, that all important phrase. The empirical element to this research explores the ways in which the legal profession functions under new cost rules in order to secure that theoretical aim for claimants within personal injury law.

It is particularly focused on the current and potential use of technology within legal practise to manage cases within the limitations of new cost rules and rationed procedures. This draws heavily on current work relating to Law and Technology; professionalism and expertise; and the contrasting natures of social knowledge artificial intelligence.