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UK Judge Calls For An Online Court Without Lawyers To Cut Costs
mi writes from a report via The Times: A senior judge has called for the establishment of an online court (Warning: source may be paywalled) that does not have lawyers and can deal with claims of up to 25,000 British Pound (around $32,850). The proposal is the centerpiece of a package of reforms to the civil justice system, drawn up by Lord Justice Briggs, a Court of Appeal judge. Just how exactly will this court ensure no one is, in fact, a trained professional on the internet, where no one knows who you really are, is not explained. We discussed the idea last year. Apparently, it is still alive. The judge's report says this computer court would provide "effective access to justice without having to incur the disproportionate cost of using lawyers." The Law Gazette reported earlier in June that Briggs has mused about a three-stage process -- triage, conciliation and final judgement -- in which there might be some lawyer involvement.
It's almost always more expensive and damaging than any settlement or plea bargain you might reach.
Here in the uk it already exists in the form of the small claims court, and one can initiate it online, all the judge is really suggesting is changing the charging structure for the court fees (one can currently claim upto £100,000 via the process, but above £10,000 the fee is a percentage of the claim) and he is suggesting moving the actual hearings away from a court room and onto video conferencing instead. Oh, the whole no lawyers thing is total baloney, to become a judge one has to have been a barrister for several years, so at some point if it gets that far...
We need the law's version of universal health care, public defenders for civil cases also. There are too many innocent victims who can't afford to defend themselves from trumped up charges and lawsuits.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
It is, after all, the last day he can do it for free.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Lawyers don't even believe in representing themselves, so when you say plenty just what is that percentage ?
Here's an example of what happens when you don't know what you are doing involving the law
http://wtvr.com/2016/06/06/man...
Step 1: Virtualize the judiciary system
Step 2: Out-source judiciary decisions to a "Judgement Centre" in India
This is for civil small claims cases, in which lawyers are rarely involved and which are largely set up to support people litigating in person.
They tend to be more about arbitration of unpaid invoices or failure to provide a service that's been paid for etc. I have a couple of friends who have used the small claims courts either against non-paying customers or companies that have stiffed them. In all cases they attended in person and were supported by the court staff rather than lawyers, and they all had good things to say about the staff and the system in principal.
These are very much not cases where high paid lawyers square up against each other and slog it out in a dramatic battle of rhetoric. In fact I've heard from a number of people that the judges who preside tend to take a dim view of trained lawyers trying to steamroller or confuse non-lawyers on the other side. These are not cases involving complex points of law. If the case gets more complex then it may be referred to a higher court.
This proposal makes a lot of sense to me for those sorts of cases. While the cost of using the small claims court can put people off using it, the time and disruption, especially if they are running a business, can be more of an impediment. The ability to handle much of the case without having to attend in person would make the whole system much better, and if it reduced the costs it would make the small claims court more accessible to many people to seek redress from companies. There's also lots of potential to design the online system in such a way as to provide lots of help and advice to non-legal people to they can make their case batter, which should also make the whole process more effective and fair.
Paul Leader
Yey! Veterans Affairs for all!..
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.