Burning issue: Should consumer justice prevail in our legal system?

Published on Tuesday 12 February 2008 20:22

NO Frank Maguire, Solicitor Advocate

I REJECT the fundamental principle underpinning this whole debate, namely the consumer lobby's assertion that justice is consumed.

Try telling families of the Stockline factory explosion, the recent tugboat tragedy on the Clyde, the husband of the family wiped out in a car accident from diesel spillage or someone dying from an industrial disease or infected with blood products, that they are consuming justice. They are consuming nothing.

Their right to justice is the same as their right to education and health, and it is the duty of society to uphold that right.

Lawyers are portrayed as obstacles to civil justice, enjoying monopolistic control of the legal market, leading to high prices and commensurate profits.

The monopoly, it is said, must be broken. Legal advice and representation should be open to non-solicitors. Solicitors' and advocates' practices should be open to ownership outwith the profession and even by such entities as banks, building societies and, no doubt, estate agents and claims companies.

The promoters of such an agenda are those who profess to represent the consumer, like Which?', the magazine.

I find the "consumer rules" philosophy naive. The irony is that these very consumers will come to lawyers whom they will want to be independent of such commercial undertakings.

The consumer lobby has had too much influence so far in our Scottish society. It now needs to be checked and, instead, we should be reasserting a rights-based system underpinned by an independent judiciary and an independent legal profession.

YES

Julia Clarke, of Which?

WE ALL agree legal services are vitally important. Access to justice and an independent legal profession are cornerstones of our democracy. But there appears to be confusion among some in the legal profession about what we are campaigning for.

We support the rights of people seeking justice from the courts. But we also want to see the market liberalisation of legal services such as will-making, conveyancing, divorce, employment rights; matters that many members of the public will find themselves addressing at some point.

With competition, new providers will emerge, stimulating innovation and delivering high standards of customer service, greater efficiency and improving price and quality for consumers.

As the Financial Times of 6 June, 2006 said: "Competition delivers results in ways that government bureaucrats cannot anticipate. Consumers can expect more choice, innovative services and lower prices. Familiar brands such as Tesco and the AA have nothing to gain from offering substandard legal services."

By enabling competition and lower prices, liberalising the industry is likely to increase access to legal services for people who have been effectively priced out of the market by cuts in legal aid.

Which? has considerable expertise in improving consumer markets for the good of everyone using these services. And Scottish legal services is a consumer market worth 1.2 billion.

We would like to see regulation by a new Legal Services Board including in its objectives access to justice and the protection of consumers. What we have now is lawyers regulating themselves.