Legal profession urged to shake off greedy image

A High Court judge has urged the legal profession to try and “shake off its greedy, ambulance-chasing image”.

Mr Justice Michael Peart said court costs may, for many people, amount to a denial of their constitutional right of access to justice or, at least, a significant obstruction.

The judge said there was little to be said in favour of the time-honoured adversarial system of litigation “unless one is a lawyer with a busy practice to whom the expense is an inescapable attraction and delay an irrelevance”.

He was speaking at a weekend seminar in Ballina, Co Mayo on mediation and alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

Given the ever increasing workload of the courts, which are managed by “outdated 19th century rules”, he said it was little wonder the administration of justice was under pressure.

While acknowledging waiting times had been reduced in the High Court, he was critical of both the delays and the costs involved in litigation. There was a place for ADR but it should complement rather than replace an efficient courts process, he said.

Mr Justice Peart admitted that when he first thought about solicitors and barristers encouraging mediation rather than going to court, “it seemed somewhat oxymoronic — akin to a dentist encouraging children to brush their teeth and tobacco companies telling their clientele that smoking their product would kill them”.

However, he warned: “The profession has to try and shake off its greedy ambulance-chasing image.”

The judge criticised the Rules of the Superior Court, which, he said, actually facilitate unnecessary delay for any party “who wishes to drag out litigation as much as possible for whatever reason”.

Mr Justice Peart also said an advantage with mediation was that it did not involve “banks of lawyers, each of whom have to be paid”.

He cited a recent case about internet defamation that lasted two days but involved five teams of lawyers, which meant the costs to the losing party “would likely buy a decent house in any part of the country”.

He told the seminar that the cost of going to court “may be a denial to many people of their constitutional right of access to justice, or at least a significant obstruction, and a deterrent to genuine plaintiffs who need to have their rights vindicated and protected”.

The seminar was organised by Mediation Solutions North West, a body of accredited mediators, established in May 2010 to promote ADR, which estimates the success rate so far is up to 80%.