Not withstanding the recent High Court ruling that keeping asylum seekers in detention centres is unlawful, the impact of the much-anticipated Human Rights Act has been muted since it became law on 2 October 2000. Nearly a year later, the number of High Court cases brought under the Act has only just broken the three-figure mark.

The limited scope of the Act is reflected in the responses to this week’s Big Question survey of 100 leading solicitors.