The civil courts system over which Lord Woolf presides, and whose administration he was instrumental in 'modernising', is an utter shambles.

The reforms introduced by him have had such an effect that the following is now commonplace:

l Files on claims issued on behalf of members of the public are routinely lost.

l Follow-up enquiry is extraordinary difficult - telephones are not answered, fax machines do not receive, e-mails are discouraged.

l Occasionally, it will take a court office several weeks to do anything at all.

l Matters have reached such a sorry state that Central London County Court - the reputed flagship of the County Court system - now issues a disclaimer saying it will not be responsible for mistakes.

What other organisation is allowed to behave thus? And how does one explain any of it to members of the public? Regrettably, only by prefacing one's remarks with the caution that litigation is a lottery, the civil court system utterly chaotic, and the effect of the Woolf 'reforms' has been to make the whole process substantially more expensive.

Legal services may not - rightly perhaps - merit the attention of other public services, and the fault does not lie with civil servants, lawyers and judges (whom it is fashionable to blame).

It lies squarely with those responsible for devising and administering these processes.

If the civil courts were in the private sector, they would be out of business within a week.

John Macrory, Macrory Ward Solicitors, London