Tribunals

Advantages of Tribunals:

1. Cheapness
2. Accessibility
3. Freedom from technicality
4. Expert knowledge of their particular subject [i.e. through specialism, which reduces the time needed and thus costs]
5. Legally qualified chairmen - helping to ensure justice is done  
6. The procedure means that if you do not know what you are doing the tribunal will help you.
7. Tribunals' local knowledge can be beneficial.
8. They allow flexibility since there is little use made of precedent. 
9. They reduce the workload of government departments.
10.  They help reduce the workload of the judiciary.
11. Reasoned judgments allow for both sides to make amends, for appeals, and for justice to be seen to be done. 
12. Speedy justice can be piossible.

Disadvantages of Tribunals:

1. There is an unfair imbalance between represented and unrepresented parties - it is unfair to people who are not represented and cannot get legal aid to come up against a rich corporation - since richer parties are allowed to employ skilled representation they are consequently more likely to win.
2. The no-costs rule and lack of legal aid penalise poor litigants, although they do keep costs down.
3. The lack of fees encourages poor applicants, although it may also result in ill-founded claims.
4. They may lack some of the perceived independence of the judiciary.
5. It can still be difficult for the people who go to tribunals to represent themselves because of the inherent difficulty in presenting a case in any environment.
6. Tribunals can become complex over time - as did the courts - rules of procedure grow up caused by the use of representatives who as a result make representation desirable in future.