As a judge once remarked, English justice is open to all, “just like the Ritz Hotel”. The trouble is that, in the current environment of cuts in the legal budget and no legal aid, the individual is finding it increasingly difficult to retain professional legal counsel, and hence “DYI-justice” is all the rage. A tsunami of litigants in person is on its way, as the Economist has reported recently. Representing themselves – often poorly.
This causes problems for corporates who have to face this opposition. One senior counsel recently described watching this situation as like “the frustration a surgeon would feel, watching somebody try and take out their liver with a spoon”. This inevitably leads to increased costs as court dates are cancelled and elongated.
The answer of course is to do all you can to avoid litigation in the first place. How is that done? Contact us for more details about our risk reduction and avoidance strategies.