In his interim report Lord Justice Jackson gives a number of suggestions, including such ideas as one-way costs shifting in personal injury claims to avoid the necessity for after-the-event insurance.

It has always struck me as intrinsically unfair that a person’s ability to sue for injuries caused to him is governed by whether he can or cannot get insurance. One-way costs shifting might be a way out of this, although it is also intrinsically unfair to treat parties in a dispute differently. What I cannot understand is why Lord Justice Jackson did not make another, and so obvious, suggestion – give the country a legal aid system so that people who cannot afford to sue can do so.

Lord Justice Jackson says in chapter 12 of the report: ‘Although the legal aid scheme operating under the Legal Aid Act 1988 was probably the best and certainly the most expensive scheme of its type in the world, it became clear that the system was no longer sustainable. Legal aid expenditure (including crime) rose to £1.5bn in 1997 and is over £2bn today.’

That simply is not true as a whole. The closure of legal aid to personal injury victims can only be political. It cannot possibly be money-based. Lord Justice Jackson has ignored the statutory charge that existed prior to the 1999 reforms, although he mentions it in connection with the scheme in existence after 1999. There was no need whatsoever to withdraw legal aid from personal injury cases. There is no need to have contingency fee agreements and there is no need to have after-the-event insurance. Why has Lord Justice Jackson not mentioned the cost of legal aid after the state recoups the costs either from the unsuccessful defendant or the successful claimant? The only financial difference is that, with legal aid, the state is taking the risk of losing, rather than the lawyers acting for the claimant. However, a well-evaluated and managed personal injury claim will normally win something, even if it is not the amount that the claimant wanted.

Neil Spurrier, Gregory Rowcliffe Milners, 1 Bedford Row, London