'Civil justice must serve the people instead of lawyers'

A BLUEPRINT to create a civil justice system "fit for the 21st century" due to be published today, calls for the system to be redesigned to help consumers instead of favouring the legal profession.

The report by Consumer Focus Scotland highlights areas of the system which it considers to be most in need of reform.

The consumer campaigning organisation said the civil justice system, which deals with issues such as divorce, debt recovery and housing problems, needed to be more "user friendly, affordable and accessible".

The organisation criticised the current system as too focused on the needs of solicitors, advocates and judges and not on people who use the system.

Proposals in the Making Civil Justice Work for Consumers report include educating the public on the legal system and publicising ways of resolving disputes without going to court.

It also calls for a "user-friendly" approach to dispute resolution and says advice services need to adopt a more "joined up" approach.

Solicitor Sarah O'Neill, the head of policy for Consumer Focus Scotland, said the report set out a four-step approach to reforming the wider civil justice system to ensure it delivered access to justice.

She added: "Most of us will use the civil justice system at some point in our lives. For many that interaction will be difficult and unwelcome because of the stressful issues they are dealing with.

"The public's experience of civil justice has too often been that it doesn't properly support them to resolve their dispute in the most appropriate way at the most appropriate time."

The report comes after a review of the civil courts by Lord Gill, published last year.

Kim Leslie, convener of the Law Society's civil justice committee, said: "The society will work positively with everyone involved with the review, as well as in any other area where we can make a difference to ensure that the system works for everyone."

Labour's education spokesman, Richard Baker, said any suggestions which contributed to the debate were valuable.

He said: "There is no doubt we need to have a look at how our civil justice system is working.

"We need better access to justice for everybody in terms of consumer issues."

Conservative justice spokesman Bill Aitken said: "The government and the parliament are at present looking very closely at Lord Gill's comprehensive report.

"And it seems likely many of these measures will be thought worthy of introduction into Scots law in due course."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "We agree with Lord Gill's recent civil justice review that the system needs substantial reform, and we are currently considering our response.

"We have already done a great deal to improve access to justice, and welcome this report as a contribution to the debate."