Press highlights financial and health costs of the law

It was a week when the press spotlight shifted from solicitors to barristers, with a spate of attacks on followed by defence of the QC and judicial system.The cost of litigation was under the microscope as The Guardian (27 April) reported how in the recent trial of 11 Afghani plane hijackers, a total of 27 barristers were employed, some of whom apparently did little more than take notes.The presiding judge in the asylum seekers trial, which ended with a hung jury at an estimated cost of 12 million, questioned why the taxpayer funded a separate QC and junior counsel for each of the 12 defendants.

Each QC cost around 50,000 for preparation, with [daily] refreshers of around 500.On the question of charges, the QCs had obviously taken a leaf from the book of four former law lords and a retired judge.

The panel of five including Lord Nolan, Lord Mustill, Lord Lloyd of Berwick, Lord Griffiths of Govilon and Sir John Vinelott are to compete with barristers and solicitors by charging litigants 10,000 for an expert opinion on their chances of success when their case reaches court (The Independent, 24 April).The judges claim that by offering clients their high-powered knowledge before they decide to draw their six guns and go firing, it will remove the risk of losing a case while costing a fraction of the price of litigation.If this is so, it spells bad news for the 77 QCs sworn in last week; but one person who will probably not be sobbing into his wig isPhilip Shepherd.Mr Shepherd is a barrister of some 25 years experience, who went public in The Daily Telegraph on his rejection this year yet again after going through the process of applying to become a QC (24 April).

Obviously speaking without a trace of bitterness, Mr Shepherd said not only that there must be something wrong with the system, but some say it has no place in a modern legal system and they may be right.While admitting that the rejection was a huge blow to your self confidence, a blow to your self esteem, and your family inevitably joins in the disappointment, he does not rule out putting himself through the mill next year.

However, this out-of-date and subjective (The Daily Telegraph, 24 April) system does have some staunch supporters namely, and unsurprisingly, the Lord Chancellor, Derry Irvine, who was out on the damage limitation trail last week.Speaking to the select group of new QCs, he insisted that the system was fair and open, while admitting that it is absolutely right that we should be asked critically to examine it and justify it (The Times, 25 April).A QC rejection letter may cause a few tears to be shed, but solicitors have their own problems, according to The Independent (24 April) which reported how the strait-laced shop fronts of Britains law firms hide a sad story of drinking and women solicitors in the midst of deep depression.According to research from SolCare, the solicitors counselling service, lawyers are dying from liver cirrhosis at double the average national rate, coming fourth behind doctors, seafarers and publicans in the league table of alcohol-related deaths.

The research concluded that men are more willing to take to the bottle rather than confront their problems directly.However, there is some compensation for the spiral of despair and alcoholism that beckons the Daily Mails Career Mail section reported last week on the financial rewards offered to bright young newly qualified solicitors.

Mentioning the 60,000 offered by some US firms on qualification, the Mail observed how the recent tirade by Home Secretary Jack Straw against rich lawyers may help make the case for choosing law as a profession (26 April).Victoria MacCallum