Nigel J Balmer
Biographic Data
| ID | 307753 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Nigel J Balmer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Nigel J |
| FAMILY NAME | Balmer |
| SIGNATURE | BALMER N J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Faculty (United Kingdom) |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 67 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
What makes a legal problem? Dispute characteristics and the construction of legality
Individuals rarely turn to law when faced with civil legal problems and often do not perceive the problems that they experience as legal matters. Though not all justiciable problems require recourse to lawyers or legal institutions, the dynamics of legal characterization and responsive behaviour are important for understanding dispute processing and developing targeted policy interventions. Extant survey research documents the importance of probl…
Justice & the Capability to Function in Society
All over the world, civil legal problems are ubiquitous. But while all groups in every society that has been studied experience civil justice problems, these problems and their consequences do not fall equally. Socially disadvantaged people report more problems, more serious problems, and more negative consequences from them. The lack of legal capability-the lack of the capacity to understand and act on justice problems-plays a key role in creati…
Why Do I Need a Will Anyway? Assessing the Impact of a Public Legal Education Intervention Embedded in a Longitudinal Survey
In England and Wales less than half of the adult population report that they have a will, with similarly low numbers found in other jurisdictions. Dying intestate can have profound implications on the family relationships, housing security, finances, employment, health and welfare of those who are left behind. Social policy initiatives designed to educate the public on the implications of intestacy offer a potential solution but remain difficult …
Wrong about Rights: Public Knowledge of Key Areas of Consumer, Housing and Employment Law in England and Wales
Over many decades, processes of juridification have brought about huge growth in legal rights, responsibilities and protections, yet citizens appear to poorly understand this ‘law thick’ world. This impacts citizens’ capacity to ‘name, blame and claim’ in the legal domain at a time of retreat from public funding of civil legal services. This article examines public knowledge of rights in key areas relating to consumer, housing and employment law.…
Portal or pot hole? Exploring how older people use the ‘information superhighway’ for advice relating to problems with a legal dimension
As an increasing number of Government services have moved away from traditional modes of provision to online formats, there has been a corresponding need to ensure greater access to the internet. Although older people (those over 60) are least likely of all age groups to have access to the internet in their homes, the internet holds much potential as an information and advice resource for those older people who may find it difficult to access adv…
Geographical barriers to education law advice: Access, communications and public legal services in England and Wales
In line with changes to the delivery of other public services, current reforms to publicly funded legal advice services within England and Wales seek to move services from traditional face-to-face settings to delivery predominantly over the telephone. Government justification for the policy has focused on greater equality of access. In contrast, criticisms have centred upon the inability of the telephone to address the needs of certain client gro…
When legal rights are not a reality: Do individuals know their rights and how can we tell
Public knowledge of rights has been the subject of a number of empirical enquiries over the last decade. In England and Wales, knowledge of rights and its relationship with an individual's capacity to 'self-help' and 'self-represent' when faced with a civil justice problem has become the subject of renewed attention following changes to legal aid which, from March 2013, will see the availability of legal advice and representation dramatically red…
Just a phone call away: Is telephone advice enough
Over the last two decades the public sector has embraced new modes of service delivery, with a shift away from traditional face-to-face provision towards Internet and telephone based advice and information. While telephone provision has played an increasingly significant role in overall provision of legal advice in recent years, there has been limited empirical research which compares telephone to face-to-face services. Utilising administrative d…
Ignorance in Bliss: Modeling Knowledge of Rights in Marriage and Cohabitation
We live our lives against an extensive backdrop of legal rights and responsibilities, yet a growing number of studies indicates low levels of public legal literacy. In the context of opposite-sex cohabitation and marriage law, this study employs new survey data from the United Kingdom to explore, in detail, how many and which people are ignorant of the law, and what are the nature and origins of erroneous beliefs. We find that people's beliefs ab…
Informed Citizens? Knowledge of Rights and the Resolution of Civil Justice Problems
Previous studies have highlighted the paucity of knowledge possessed by people in a number of jurisdictions with regard to specific legal issues and processes, yet what has not been fully understood is the practical impact of this lack of knowledge. This paper looks at how knowledge of rights affects the resolution of civil justice problems. Data were extracted from a large-scale survey of adults' experience of rights problems throughout England …
The Audacity of Justice: Recession, Redundancy, Rights and Legal Aid
The 2008 recession presents a double challenge to legal aid. Unemployment extends legal aid eligibility. It is also associated with increased vulnerability to problems involving legal rights, feeding demand for legal services. Job loss, as distinct from unemployment, might be expected to increase vulnerability further still. In this paper, we set out findings from a first analysis of the relationship between job loss and the experience of rights …
Psychiatric morbidity and people’s experience of and response to social problems involving rights: Psychiatric morbidity and social problems involving rights
Psychiatric morbidity has been shown to be associated with the increased reporting of a range of social problems involving legal rights ('rights problems'). Using a validated measure of psychiatric morbidity, this paper explores the relationship between psychiatric morbidity and rights problems and discusses the implications for the delivery of health and legal services. New representative national survey data from the English and Welsh Civil and…
Geography of advice seeking
Do Citizens Know How to Deal with Legal Issues? Some Empirical Insights
Over recent years there has been increasing policy concern in the UK about whether citizens are equipped with sufficient legal 'know-how'. In January 2006, the Department for Constitutional Affairs, now Ministry of Justice, announced a Public Legal Education and Support Task Force to develop and promote the case for a national strategy. This comes after UK government strategies have recently been developed for both consumer education and financia…
Worried Sick: The Experience of Debt Problems and their Relationship with Health, Illness and Disability
This paper examines social and demographic predictors of debt problems, whether debt problems tend to occur in combination with other problems and which people tend to experience long- rather than short-term debt. Data were extracted from a survey of 5,611 adults' experiences of civil justice problems, throughout England and Wales. Being in receipt of benefits and long-term illness or disability were the strongest predictors of debt, with long-te…
Incentivising disputes: The Role of Public Funding in Private Law Children Cases
This article sets out the findings of a study of 280 publicly–funded private law children cases and associated interviews. It illustrates how both the cost and duration of such cases have increased substantially over the past few years and suggests that this may partly be as a consequence of increasing complexity. However, the article also illustrates how the legal aid scheme can act to promote delay and cost inflation within family cases. In par…
Social Exclusion and Civil Law: Experience of Civil Justice Problems among Vulnerable Groups
Combating social exclusion has become a priority target for many governments and was a key factor in the establishment of the Legal Services Commission (LSC) and the Community Legal Service (CLS) in England and Wales in April 2000. This study aims to assess whether socially excluded groups within the general population are more likely to suffer justiciable problems (problems for which there is a potential legal remedy) and whether such groups dif…
Institutional Racism and Civil Justice
This article investigates the utility of the term 'institutional racism', using a study of the experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic [BME] people within the civil justice 'system' in England and Wales. The study is based on the results of the Legal Services Research Centre's Periodic Survey of Justiciable Problems, detailing 5,611 respondents' experiences of civil justice problems over a four-year period. The article concludes that although di…
Disability, social exclusion and the consequential experience of justiciable problems
In this article, we examine the situation of disabled people in England and Wales with regard to one specific aspect of social exclusion—experience of justiciable problems, and the potential effects such problems can have on their lives. Having defined ‘disability’, we examine how this fits within the wider dialogue on social exclusion issues. By analysing the results of the Legal Services Research Centre's (LSRC) periodic survey of justiciable p…
Lone Parents and Civil Law: Their Experience of Problems and Their Advice‐seeking Behaviour
The percentage of dependent children living in lone‐parent families has more than tripled in Britain over the last 30 years. Though there is much diversity within this lone‐parent population, there are common experiences and characteristics. Lone‐parent families tend to be headed by women, to be poor, on benefits and experience problems with ill health and disability. This paper examines lone parenthood in the context of the experience of justici…
Causes of Action: First Findings of the LSRC Periodic Survey
In this paper we report some of the first findings of the LSRC periodic survey of justiciable problems. We confirm the prevalence of justiciable problems amongst the general population. We identify important differences in the experiences of discrete socio–demographic populations, not only in terms of the number of problems faced, but also in terms of the perception of problems and reactions to them. We show that cost is not the principal barrier…
Worried Sick: The Experience of Debt Problems and their Relationship with Health, Illness and Disability
This paper examines social and demographic predictors of debt problems, whether debt problems tend to occur in combination with other problems and which people tend to experience long- rather than short-term debt. Data were extracted from a survey of 5,611 adults' experiences of civil justice problems, throughout England and Wales. Being in receipt of benefits and long-term illness or disability were the strongest predictors of debt, with long-te…
Disability, social exclusion and the consequential experience of justiciable problems
In this article, we examine the situation of disabled people in England and Wales with regard to one specific aspect of social exclusion—experience of justiciable problems, and the potential effects such problems can have on their lives. Having defined ‘disability’, we examine how this fits within the wider dialogue on social exclusion issues. By analysing the results of the Legal Services Research Centre's (LSRC) periodic survey of justiciable p…
Institutional Racism and Civil Justice
This article investigates the utility of the term 'institutional racism', using a study of the experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic [BME] people within the civil justice 'system' in England and Wales. The study is based on the results of the Legal Services Research Centre's Periodic Survey of Justiciable Problems, detailing 5,611 respondents' experiences of civil justice problems over a four-year period. The article concludes that although di…
Geography of advice seeking
Justice & the Capability to Function in Society
All over the world, civil legal problems are ubiquitous. But while all groups in every society that has been studied experience civil justice problems, these problems and their consequences do not fall equally. Socially disadvantaged people report more problems, more serious problems, and more negative consequences from them. The lack of legal capability-the lack of the capacity to understand and act on justice problems-plays a key role in creati…
Just a phone call away: Is telephone advice enough
Over the last two decades the public sector has embraced new modes of service delivery, with a shift away from traditional face-to-face provision towards Internet and telephone based advice and information. While telephone provision has played an increasingly significant role in overall provision of legal advice in recent years, there has been limited empirical research which compares telephone to face-to-face services. Utilising administrative d…
Ignorance in Bliss: Modeling Knowledge of Rights in Marriage and Cohabitation
We live our lives against an extensive backdrop of legal rights and responsibilities, yet a growing number of studies indicates low levels of public legal literacy. In the context of opposite-sex cohabitation and marriage law, this study employs new survey data from the United Kingdom to explore, in detail, how many and which people are ignorant of the law, and what are the nature and origins of erroneous beliefs. We find that people's beliefs ab…
Social Exclusion and Civil Law: Experience of Civil Justice Problems among Vulnerable Groups
Combating social exclusion has become a priority target for many governments and was a key factor in the establishment of the Legal Services Commission (LSC) and the Community Legal Service (CLS) in England and Wales in April 2000. This study aims to assess whether socially excluded groups within the general population are more likely to suffer justiciable problems (problems for which there is a potential legal remedy) and whether such groups dif…
Geographical barriers to education law advice: Access, communications and public legal services in England and Wales
In line with changes to the delivery of other public services, current reforms to publicly funded legal advice services within England and Wales seek to move services from traditional face-to-face settings to delivery predominantly over the telephone. Government justification for the policy has focused on greater equality of access. In contrast, criticisms have centred upon the inability of the telephone to address the needs of certain client gro…
Do Citizens Know How to Deal with Legal Issues? Some Empirical Insights
Over recent years there has been increasing policy concern in the UK about whether citizens are equipped with sufficient legal 'know-how'. In January 2006, the Department for Constitutional Affairs, now Ministry of Justice, announced a Public Legal Education and Support Task Force to develop and promote the case for a national strategy. This comes after UK government strategies have recently been developed for both consumer education and financia…
When legal rights are not a reality: Do individuals know their rights and how can we tell
Public knowledge of rights has been the subject of a number of empirical enquiries over the last decade. In England and Wales, knowledge of rights and its relationship with an individual's capacity to 'self-help' and 'self-represent' when faced with a civil justice problem has become the subject of renewed attention following changes to legal aid which, from March 2013, will see the availability of legal advice and representation dramatically red…
Informed Citizens? Knowledge of Rights and the Resolution of Civil Justice Problems
Previous studies have highlighted the paucity of knowledge possessed by people in a number of jurisdictions with regard to specific legal issues and processes, yet what has not been fully understood is the practical impact of this lack of knowledge. This paper looks at how knowledge of rights affects the resolution of civil justice problems. Data were extracted from a large-scale survey of adults' experience of rights problems throughout England …
Lone Parents and Civil Law: Their Experience of Problems and Their Advice‐seeking Behaviour
The percentage of dependent children living in lone‐parent families has more than tripled in Britain over the last 30 years. Though there is much diversity within this lone‐parent population, there are common experiences and characteristics. Lone‐parent families tend to be headed by women, to be poor, on benefits and experience problems with ill health and disability. This paper examines lone parenthood in the context of the experience of justici…
Causes of Action: First Findings of the LSRC Periodic Survey
In this paper we report some of the first findings of the LSRC periodic survey of justiciable problems. We confirm the prevalence of justiciable problems amongst the general population. We identify important differences in the experiences of discrete socio–demographic populations, not only in terms of the number of problems faced, but also in terms of the perception of problems and reactions to them. We show that cost is not the principal barrier…
The Audacity of Justice: Recession, Redundancy, Rights and Legal Aid
The 2008 recession presents a double challenge to legal aid. Unemployment extends legal aid eligibility. It is also associated with increased vulnerability to problems involving legal rights, feeding demand for legal services. Job loss, as distinct from unemployment, might be expected to increase vulnerability further still. In this paper, we set out findings from a first analysis of the relationship between job loss and the experience of rights …
Psychiatric morbidity and people’s experience of and response to social problems involving rights: Psychiatric morbidity and social problems involving rights
Psychiatric morbidity has been shown to be associated with the increased reporting of a range of social problems involving legal rights ('rights problems'). Using a validated measure of psychiatric morbidity, this paper explores the relationship between psychiatric morbidity and rights problems and discusses the implications for the delivery of health and legal services. New representative national survey data from the English and Welsh Civil and…
Causes of Action: First Findings of the LSRC Periodic Survey
In this paper we report some of the first findings of the LSRC periodic survey of justiciable problems. We confirm the prevalence of justiciable problems amongst the general population. We identify important differences in the experiences of discrete socio–demographic populations, not only in terms of the number of problems faced, but also in terms of the perception of problems and reactions to them. We show that cost is not the principal barrier…
Disability, social exclusion and the consequential experience of justiciable problems
In this article, we examine the situation of disabled people in England and Wales with regard to one specific aspect of social exclusion—experience of justiciable problems, and the potential effects such problems can have on their lives. Having defined ‘disability’, we examine how this fits within the wider dialogue on social exclusion issues. By analysing the results of the Legal Services Research Centre's (LSRC) periodic survey of justiciable p…
Lone Parents and Civil Law: Their Experience of Problems and Their Advice‐seeking Behaviour
The percentage of dependent children living in lone‐parent families has more than tripled in Britain over the last 30 years. Though there is much diversity within this lone‐parent population, there are common experiences and characteristics. Lone‐parent families tend to be headed by women, to be poor, on benefits and experience problems with ill health and disability. This paper examines lone parenthood in the context of the experience of justici…
Incentivising disputes: The Role of Public Funding in Private Law Children Cases
This article sets out the findings of a study of 280 publicly–funded private law children cases and associated interviews. It illustrates how both the cost and duration of such cases have increased substantially over the past few years and suggests that this may partly be as a consequence of increasing complexity. However, the article also illustrates how the legal aid scheme can act to promote delay and cost inflation within family cases. In par…
Social Exclusion and Civil Law: Experience of Civil Justice Problems among Vulnerable Groups
Combating social exclusion has become a priority target for many governments and was a key factor in the establishment of the Legal Services Commission (LSC) and the Community Legal Service (CLS) in England and Wales in April 2000. This study aims to assess whether socially excluded groups within the general population are more likely to suffer justiciable problems (problems for which there is a potential legal remedy) and whether such groups dif…
Institutional Racism and Civil Justice
This article investigates the utility of the term 'institutional racism', using a study of the experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic [BME] people within the civil justice 'system' in England and Wales. The study is based on the results of the Legal Services Research Centre's Periodic Survey of Justiciable Problems, detailing 5,611 respondents' experiences of civil justice problems over a four-year period. The article concludes that although di…
Worried Sick: The Experience of Debt Problems and their Relationship with Health, Illness and Disability
This paper examines social and demographic predictors of debt problems, whether debt problems tend to occur in combination with other problems and which people tend to experience long- rather than short-term debt. Data were extracted from a survey of 5,611 adults' experiences of civil justice problems, throughout England and Wales. Being in receipt of benefits and long-term illness or disability were the strongest predictors of debt, with long-te…
Geography of advice seeking
Do Citizens Know How to Deal with Legal Issues? Some Empirical Insights
Over recent years there has been increasing policy concern in the UK about whether citizens are equipped with sufficient legal 'know-how'. In January 2006, the Department for Constitutional Affairs, now Ministry of Justice, announced a Public Legal Education and Support Task Force to develop and promote the case for a national strategy. This comes after UK government strategies have recently been developed for both consumer education and financia…
The Audacity of Justice: Recession, Redundancy, Rights and Legal Aid
The 2008 recession presents a double challenge to legal aid. Unemployment extends legal aid eligibility. It is also associated with increased vulnerability to problems involving legal rights, feeding demand for legal services. Job loss, as distinct from unemployment, might be expected to increase vulnerability further still. In this paper, we set out findings from a first analysis of the relationship between job loss and the experience of rights …
Psychiatric morbidity and people’s experience of and response to social problems involving rights: Psychiatric morbidity and social problems involving rights
Psychiatric morbidity has been shown to be associated with the increased reporting of a range of social problems involving legal rights ('rights problems'). Using a validated measure of psychiatric morbidity, this paper explores the relationship between psychiatric morbidity and rights problems and discusses the implications for the delivery of health and legal services. New representative national survey data from the English and Welsh Civil and…
Just a phone call away: Is telephone advice enough
Over the last two decades the public sector has embraced new modes of service delivery, with a shift away from traditional face-to-face provision towards Internet and telephone based advice and information. While telephone provision has played an increasingly significant role in overall provision of legal advice in recent years, there has been limited empirical research which compares telephone to face-to-face services. Utilising administrative d…
Ignorance in Bliss: Modeling Knowledge of Rights in Marriage and Cohabitation
We live our lives against an extensive backdrop of legal rights and responsibilities, yet a growing number of studies indicates low levels of public legal literacy. In the context of opposite-sex cohabitation and marriage law, this study employs new survey data from the United Kingdom to explore, in detail, how many and which people are ignorant of the law, and what are the nature and origins of erroneous beliefs. We find that people's beliefs ab…
Informed Citizens? Knowledge of Rights and the Resolution of Civil Justice Problems
Previous studies have highlighted the paucity of knowledge possessed by people in a number of jurisdictions with regard to specific legal issues and processes, yet what has not been fully understood is the practical impact of this lack of knowledge. This paper looks at how knowledge of rights affects the resolution of civil justice problems. Data were extracted from a large-scale survey of adults' experience of rights problems throughout England …
When legal rights are not a reality: Do individuals know their rights and how can we tell
Public knowledge of rights has been the subject of a number of empirical enquiries over the last decade. In England and Wales, knowledge of rights and its relationship with an individual's capacity to 'self-help' and 'self-represent' when faced with a civil justice problem has become the subject of renewed attention following changes to legal aid which, from March 2013, will see the availability of legal advice and representation dramatically red…
Portal or pot hole? Exploring how older people use the ‘information superhighway’ for advice relating to problems with a legal dimension
As an increasing number of Government services have moved away from traditional modes of provision to online formats, there has been a corresponding need to ensure greater access to the internet. Although older people (those over 60) are least likely of all age groups to have access to the internet in their homes, the internet holds much potential as an information and advice resource for those older people who may find it difficult to access adv…
Geographical barriers to education law advice: Access, communications and public legal services in England and Wales
In line with changes to the delivery of other public services, current reforms to publicly funded legal advice services within England and Wales seek to move services from traditional face-to-face settings to delivery predominantly over the telephone. Government justification for the policy has focused on greater equality of access. In contrast, criticisms have centred upon the inability of the telephone to address the needs of certain client gro…
Wrong about Rights: Public Knowledge of Key Areas of Consumer, Housing and Employment Law in England and Wales
Over many decades, processes of juridification have brought about huge growth in legal rights, responsibilities and protections, yet citizens appear to poorly understand this ‘law thick’ world. This impacts citizens’ capacity to ‘name, blame and claim’ in the legal domain at a time of retreat from public funding of civil legal services. This article examines public knowledge of rights in key areas relating to consumer, housing and employment law.…
Why Do I Need a Will Anyway? Assessing the Impact of a Public Legal Education Intervention Embedded in a Longitudinal Survey
In England and Wales less than half of the adult population report that they have a will, with similarly low numbers found in other jurisdictions. Dying intestate can have profound implications on the family relationships, housing security, finances, employment, health and welfare of those who are left behind. Social policy initiatives designed to educate the public on the implications of intestacy offer a potential solution but remain difficult …
Justice & the Capability to Function in Society
All over the world, civil legal problems are ubiquitous. But while all groups in every society that has been studied experience civil justice problems, these problems and their consequences do not fall equally. Socially disadvantaged people report more problems, more serious problems, and more negative consequences from them. The lack of legal capability-the lack of the capacity to understand and act on justice problems-plays a key role in creati…
What makes a legal problem? Dispute characteristics and the construction of legality
Individuals rarely turn to law when faced with civil legal problems and often do not perceive the problems that they experience as legal matters. Though not all justiciable problems require recourse to lawyers or legal institutions, the dynamics of legal characterization and responsive behaviour are important for understanding dispute processing and developing targeted policy interventions. Extant survey research documents the importance of probl…
Political science (17 works) · Law (16 works) · Legal Education and Practice Innovations (13 works) · Law (12 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Economic Justice (8 works) · Psychology (8 works) · Public relations (8 works) · Geography (7 works) · Judicial and Constitutional Studies (7 works)