Civil System: Bank of England chief says perception of lawyers' monopoly is 'reality'

The governor of the Bank of England has lashed out at the Commercial Court and the legal system for letting the action brought against it by Deloittes, liquidators for BCCI, drag on for more than a decade at a cost in excess of £100 million.


Speaking at the Lord Mayor's Banquet at Mansion House last week, Mervyn King said: 'It matters that there are simple, clear and timely ways of resolving disputes. What the BCCI case revealed was a legal system incapable of guaranteeing that.


'How can a case described by the trial judge himself as built "not even on sand but on air" take 13 years and over £100 million in costs to come to a conclusion?'


Mr King added that the BCCI case, which collapsed last year, showed that the perception that 'the legal system is a profitable monopoly of the lawyers... was indeed reality'.


He called on the government to 'look carefully at this case, learn the lessons, and take steps to ensure that [it] can never occur again'.


A Department for Constitutional Affairs spokesman said investment in new facilities for the Commercial Court will have 'some benefit for future case management and procedure'. He added that the Civil Procedure Rule changes had increased judicial case management powers and sped up the system.


Simon Davis, president of the London Solicitors Litigation Association, said it was 'understandable that [Mr King] was angry', but this was not lawyers' fault. He said the system's demands on lawyers and clients are still 'too onerous and need overhaul'.


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