Top judges back property solicitors in campaign to overhaul county courts

Quality Of Service: survey reveals poor management, lack of resources, and patchy performance.Property solicitors have won backing from two senior judges in their fight to improve court services for litigants, and have already put the wheels in motion for a pilot aiming to overhaul 'the worst county court in the country'.Representatives of the Property Litigation Association (PLA) - which is dominated by commercial solicitors - met Lords Justice May and Judge after responses to a survey of its members cited a catalogue of complaints, including unhelpful staff and proceedings taking several weeks to reach the first stage.The research also highlighted vast discrepancies in the quality of service provided by courts across the country, with Central London County Court particularly unpopular with 96% of respondents.

The PLA concluded that although it might seem unfair to characterise it as the worst county court in the country, 'this is what the survey clearly seems to indicate'.The Master of the Rolls, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, forwarded a copy of the survey to the two Court of Appeal judges, along with a letter from Matthew Marsh, who was chairman of the PLA until last month.

Lord Justice Judge is the senior presiding judge in England and Wales, while Lord Justice May is deputy head of civil justice.'Lord Woolf's reforms were intended to encourage practitioners to run litigation in a cost-effective and efficient manner,' Mr Marsh wrote.

'Clearly we cannot do so if the county courts frustrate this objective due to poor management, or lack of resources, or both.'PLA spokesman John Hewitt, head of property dispute resolution at London firm Finers Stephens Innocent, said the judges were sympathetic to the association's concerns, and have agreed to back a pilot scheme in Central London County Court aimed at achieving greater consistency in business tenancy renewals.

It is hoped this will eventually be rolled out nationally.However, Mr Hewitt added: 'Quality of service will not improve without substantial extra funding from the Lord Chancellor's Department (LCD).

This is badly needed because litigants are paying quite substantial fees for cases and are not getting the service they deserve.'An LCD spokeswoman admitted that customer service standards in county courts are currently not up to scratch, but cited the government's 61 million court modernisation programme as the way forward.

'Things may not change overnight, but through this we will see improvements to the service courts provide,' she said.Paula RohanSee practice points