Experienced civil justice practitioner Amir Ali OBE has joined the Association of Consumer Support Organisations (ACSO) as a senior advisor.
Mr Ali, who is immediate past chairman of the Civil Court Users Association (CCUA) and CEO of Remote Court Users (RCU), joined the trade body at the beginning of January.
He will provide strategic and tactical advice to ACSO and its members as part of its push to get chronic ongoing problems in the civil justice system further up the public and political agenda.
He said: “ACSO is a progressive organisation that has shaken up the long-standing status quo in civil justice. I am impressed with the consensual, practical approach to issues management taken by the ACSO team and I am keen to play an active role in support of its public policy agenda.”
Mr Ali noted: “Civil Justice has been a Cinderella service for far too long, but it is where most of us access the law. ACSO’s members have a great track record of support for embattled consumers struggling to navigate their way through a creaking service.
“In an election year, politicians must sit up and take notice: they are fond of talking up the history and reputation of the UK’s legal system, but have largely stood by and overseen its fall down the international rankings (i).”
Matthew Maxwell Scott, executive director of ACSO, added: “Amir is a highly respected and well-known practitioner who will add considerable intellectual heft to our activities.
“Making sure consumers have access to justice when they need it is our foundation stone.
“We have been campaigning hard across a host of issues, including court delays, fixed recoverable costs and minor injury claims, where many reforms have benefited corporations but penalised consumers.
“With Amir’s help, we will continue to put all our energy into redressing that imbalance.”
Mr Ali joins a panel of other ACSO experts, including independent director Crispin Passmore and legal specialists Daniel Bates from Minster Law and John Cuss from Hudgell Solicitors.
Mr Maxwell Scott said: “Our advisors have provided a wealth of insights on court delays, uprating, fixed cost regimes and rehabilitation.
“They have helped moved the needle on many of these issues, and on the back of their success, we are keen to talk to other senior industry people who want to be a part of ACSO.
“We value experts and need their help to repair our civil justice system.”
(i) the UK has slipped from 13th to 20th in the World Justice Project’s ranking of countries with the most accessible and affordable civil justice system.
About Amir Ali:
A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management, Amir sits on both CICM’s Think Tank and Technical Committee. CICM overseas and is responsible for £4 Trillion of Trade Debt in the UK and abroad. He also sits on the Law Advisory Boards of several Universities and has over 37 years’ experience in both the Legal and Enforcement Sectors in the UK.
He is the immediate past Chairman of the Civil Court Users Association, the largest lobbying organisation of its kind for Civil Lawyers, and Past President of The Institute of Paralegals.
In 2022 Amir was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty the Queen for “Services to Court Users and the Law.”
Latterly Amir has been assisting the Ministry of Justice in its task to transform the courts to incorporate Online Dispute Resolution (ODR).