As if the SRA does not have enough on its plate, consumer watchdogs now want the beleaguered regulator to help solve the access to justice crisis. That was my (admittedly jaundiced) first take on a new report from the Legal Services Consumer Panel.
Written by academics, the report argues that ‘creativity and collaboration’ between frontline regulators can help the 3.6m adults presently unable to access a lawyer.
‘Maintaining the status quo is not an option [amid] the real harm caused by inaction,’ said Dr Liz Curran, co-author. That sentiment was echoed by former justice minister Lord (Willy) Bach. The civil justice crisis bequeathed by the infamous Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 is a ‘blot’ on society, the Labour peer told an impeccably liberal audience convened for the report’s launch.
His lordship is right, of course; and Dr Curran’s enthusiasm for overseas exemplars was infectious. But a Labour government newly embarked on Austerity 2.0 is showing next to no appetite for restoring access to justice to the pantheon of a welfare state under renewed fiscal siege.
Higher fees for housing and immigration are welcome – but hardly an indication of a counter-revolution. As the Law Society says, the cash will be swallowed up by this Sunday’s rise in employers’ national insurance contributions.
No one thinks Shabana Mahmood is going to find parliamentary time for a controversial shakeup of the Legal Services Act, either. As for the cash-raising proposals in the report – a levy on wealthy City firms, seizing the interest on client account money etc – these have been mooted before, and would (again) face daunting resistance.
Of the report’s 17 recommendations, the LSB has tentatively endorsed one: a regulatory ‘sandbox’ that could road-test innovative models, following the example of the financial services industry. But that’s an easy win. It won’t cost much money.
Almost exactly two years ago, prominent solicitors including former Gazette columnist Roger Smith produced a detailed blueprint for a National Legal Service to repair the damage inflicted by LASPO. Their report was ignored by Labour and ended up on the shelf.
We must hope the panel’s own report on civil justice, well-crafted as it is, does not meet the same fate. I am not getting my hopes up.
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