Shaw's Directory of Courts in the United Kingdom is considered by legal professionals to be the definitive source of information on Her Majesty's Courts Service and related offices. The 2006/07 edition includes comprehensive administration information on 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 Crown Prosecution Service, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal and Penal Establishments. The Directory reflects the now fully operational unified system of Courts administration, known as Her Majesty's Courts Service.
The Directory is divided into four parts, and three appendices. Part 1 comprises the Appellate Courts and the Supreme Courts in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This is followed by details of the seven regions formed in 2005: the Midlands, the North East, the North West, the South East, London, Wales and Cheshire and the South West. The regional listings contain contact information for the Regional Director and the Directors responsible for each area. Circuit Judges for each region are also listed. Crown Courts are included and, as well as including the address of the Court House, full details are also given of the Court Manager and Court offices. Part 2 covers the County Courts for England and Wales and Northern Ireland. As well as the Court House and District Judges, Court Manager and Court offices, any additional jurisdiction are listed, e.g. bankruptcy, adoption centre, divorce, etc. Part 3, Courts of Summary Jurisdiction, gives details of the Magistrates Courts in England and Wales and Sheriffs and District Courts in Scotland together with the normal times and places. Included in this part is a gazetteer of places in the Greater London area together with its associated Court, e.g. Lower Clapton is covered by Highbury Corner Magistrates Court and the Isle of Dogs is covered by Thames Magistrates Court. An index is also provided for this part, which is the largest section of the directory. Part 4 contains a list of Coroners and addresses of Coroners offices set out under their respective Coroners districts.
The three appendices cover the Crown Prosecution Service, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (Scotland), and Penal Establishments. Each appendix contains full postal addresses, telephone numbers and fax numbers, main and any branch offices for each establishment. Appendix 3 lists all of the Penal Establishments in the UK. After dividing these up into Headquarters Establishments and Area Offices, indicating to which office each prison is designated, the prisons themselves are listed. Usefully these are divided into local prisons and remand centres for males and for females followed by training prisons (male or female) indicating whether they are closed, open or semi‐open prisons. Additionally in this appendix are Penal Establishments designated as Therapeutic Community, Female Open with Resettlement Regime, Short Sentence Institutions and Juvenile Institutions as well as Immigration Removal Centres and Special Hospitals including Broadmoor.
The annual edition of Shaw's Directory of Courts is already used by courts, court clerks, police officers, solicitors' offices and barristers' chambers. Other professionals will also find the 2006/07 edition of great benefit, including probation officers, social workers, and journalists, and, of course, a copy should be available in any law library.
