Courts and criminal justice system stare into abyss

Sir John Stevens appears to have opened something of a hornets' nest with his stinging attack last week on Britain's 'appalling criminal justice system' (see [2002] Gazette, 14 March, 12).

Never one to miss an opportunity, the Daily Mail this week leapt on to the bandwagon with a shocking expose of 'the death of respect' (16 March) - lamenting the fact that 'these are disastrous times for the fundamental institutions of the country', including, of course, the criminal justice system.

The courts, lamented Paul Johnson in the Saturday essay, 'free obvious criminals on obscure legal technicalities, award colossal sums in damages to dubious "victims"', and pass wildly inconsistent sentences'.

He even alleged a sinister theory of conspiracy between the courts and lawyers: 'A lot of what courts do seems designed to create yet more work for the legal profession - the public is angrily aware that the number of barristers and solicitors earning over a million pounds a year is moving from scores to hundreds.'

Presumably ignoring the fact that the Mail itself frequently adopts a less-than-reverent attitude towards lawyers and the courts, Mr Johnson asked plaintively: 'What can be done to restore faith in our great institutions?'

Elsewhere, the criminal justice system was doing a pretty poor job itself of restoring public faith, as The Independent reported that 'court fines are being undermined as one in three go unpaid' (15 March).

The end of the tax year has obviously encouraged people to think about their finances, as the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, put forward proposals this week that 'multi-million pound damages awards to accident victims could be scrapped' (The Times, 14 March).

The practice of compensation would not be entirely done away with, however, as 'instead, courts would be given power to insist that victims receive awards in regular payments, a staggered award'.

The current lump sum system has often been criticised because 'victims may exhaust funds because of the difficulty of calculating their likely lifespan, and if they die early their relatives receive a multi-million pound inheritance'.

There were further Enron reverberations this week, as The Financial Times reported that lawyers are fast becoming the troubleshooters of choice for companies which need to hold internal investigations, as 'they have an advantage over accountants because their findings are protected by legal privilege' (18 March).

Although calling in law firms to look into suspected misadventures is a common practice in the US, it is traditionally accountants' territory in the UK, and as a result law firms are having to learn the rules fast.

'Reviews are a delicate process - too damning a report and the client is upset, but a mere whitewash and it is not worth commissioning in the first place,' the paper said.

And finally, for those solicitors tired of the daily grind, a spot of inspiration.

Edward de la Billiere, reported a Guardian review of the latest programme in BBC1's 'Extreme Lives' series, last year fulfilled his dream of racing a team of huskies 1,100 miles across the frozen wastes of Alaska (18 March).

He has, for some unexplained reason, wanted to do this since boyhood, and, as the paper said 'with this taste for adventure and yearning for wide open spaces, Ed took the only course open to him.

He became a solicitor'.

Victoria MacCallum