Friday, March 21, 2014

Courts Reform (Scotland) Bill v Vested Interests: Law Society warns against taking £150K claims away from ‘Victorian’ Court of Session’s stranglehold on Scots access to justice

Can a Sheriff tell the difference between £5K & £150K? Law Society thinks not. REFORMING Scotland’s Courts is never going to be an easy task when the judiciary, the legal profession and some of the people who actually run the courts system have vested significant financial interests in maintaining the current way of how things are done in our expensive, mostly out of reach and much derided justice system.

When a business is highly profitable, closed shop and draws in billions for lawyers, law firms, judges, their relatives, and anyone else who earns their keep from Scotland’s justice system, then why change it? - the Law Society of Scotland told msps earlier this week in their submissions to the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee who are considering the Courts Reform (Scotland) Bill

After all, the poor little Scots client and their family, matters little to lawyers with pound signs in their eyes and the wealthy, secretive judges clinging desperately to their hidden interests and fat Fred Goodwin style pension books.

Unless by chance, that same poor little Scots client and their hard working family has a legal case, a family tragedy, or a damages claim which can be milked for fees right up to the last minute before the lawyer walks off into the sunset, leaving the client unrepresented on the steps of Scotland’s ‘highest court’ – the Court of Session – also known as the worst, most abrasive, most intimidating and most expensive highest court in the entire European Union.

And then, lets not forget those hard working Scots clients who happen to have a property or land which a solicitor works out could be his at the end of the case, leading to a not too lengthy repossession to pay extortionate legal fees, handed over to the solicitor in a wink by some smiling happy judge who fails to disclose his own wife runs the very same law firm who are also known to fiddle their fee notes on a regular basis.

Then of course, there are the criminal cases where, if there is a prospect of extorting a few more million from Scotland’s publicly funded annual £150 Million legal aid budget, it’s full steam ahead for lawyers and the legal aid board have to fork out or else.

So you just know when the idea of reforming Scotland’s courts comes along to the Scottish Parliament, the vested interests crowd will be there protesting about tweaks, turns and a lot of what is effectively window dressing, because fiddling about with the current stitch up may impinge on lawyers profits. Easy to spot, about as easy to spot as a judge lifting his tax dodging offshore trust from one island and making off with it to another.

This week, a number of vested interests published their submissions to the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee on the Courts Reform (Scotland) Bill. Unsurprisingly, the Law Society, Faculty of Advocates and the Solicitor Advocates all came out against many of the key proposals in the Courts Reform (Scotland) Bill.

Courts Reform (Scotland) Bill 18 March evidence session at Justice Committee, Scottish Parliament

The Law Society of Scotland said in it’s own submission that the proposals contained in the bill could adversely affect access to justice due to the insufficient resources being allocated to implement the major reforms.

The Law Society went on to express concern at the dramatic increase in the threshold for cases to be heard in the Court of Session (up to £150,000 from £5,000) and warned that this will result in a large transfer of cases from the Court of Session (where no one without a deep pocket and a bent brief obtains justice) to the sheriff courts – without a matching increasing in the number of sheriffs.

The Law Society also expressed concern about the proposed changes to judicial review in Scotland, which will introduce a three month time limit on judicial review cases. The Law Society has already warned that this will restrict access to justice, although anyone who actually bothers to read some of the Judicial Reviews handed down by the Court of Session may well wonder why anyone bothers asking help from what is effectively a wave through for injustice and the vested interests of big business.

Adding to the profession’s mission to keep the money rolling in, the Faculty of Advocates claimed the reforms will put the best legal representation out of reach for ordinary men and women and favour those with deep pockets – as if it doesn't already. Ever heard the one about the QC, the bung and the ruined client? It’s a common joke around Parliament Square …

The Faculty went on to claim that one reason litigants pursue their cases in the Court of Session is because of the right to instruct counsel, who often act for pursuers on a no win no fee basis in personal injury cases. However, the Faculty forgot to explain to msps some of the other less professional ways in which Advocates end up very much in pocket even after allegedly representing someone on a no win no fee case.

In the Sheriff court, the Faculty said, use of counsel has to be sanctioned. Raising the threshold to £150,000 would therefore make it more difficult to instruct counsel, which the Faculty of Advocates claimed would reduce choice.

The Society of Solicitor Advocates also queried the impact of the Bill on access to justice, especially in relation to the lack of automatic sanction for counsel. It also warned that any financial savings that may be brought in by the changes will be “small and disproportionate to the detriment the changes will bring about,” and that the proposals will not make the justice system any more efficient, faster or less costly.

As usual, party litigants, those with out legal representation and anyone with a case which does not draw in big numbers, fails to get any mention.

All submissions of evidence for the Courts Reform (Scotland) Bill can be read here: Submissions received on the Courts Reform (Scotland) Bill

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

After all, the poor little Scots client and their family, matters little to lawyers with pound signs in their eyes and the wealthy, secretive judges clinging desperately to their hidden interests and fat Fred Goodwin style pension books.

LOL! and TRUE!

Anonymous said...

Just a shifting around of the cards on the table - nothing will come of it as you say.

Anonymous said...

completely agree

it is time to disrespect the justice system and all its cronies

Anonymous said...

As you say this is all about protecting a closed shop, and a profitable money making racket for those in Edinburgh.

I would like to see some independent, verifiable figures for how many Advocates have represented clients on a no-win no-fee basis in the last 3 years, as it is certainly not my experience.

Lastly, if a case merits the appointment of Counsel there is no good reason why any judge would refuse it.

Anonymous said...

You gave everyone a good savaging today Peter and that is exactly what is needed in the parliament.Pity you are not an msp!

Anonymous said...

The thing is a lot of these claims are driven by lawyers getting people's expectations up just because as you say yourself lawyers see it as a fee milking exercise.

Little surprise after reading your petition reports the judges hearing claims cases have some kind of financial interest in keeping it all going.

Anyone with an ounce of sense will stay away from Scottish courts.

Anonymous said...

Very good as usual Peter and all true.
The courts are as big a rip off as the banks and everything else.
Anyone expecting something approaching the definition of "justice" is doomed from the outset.

Anonymous said...

After all, the poor little Scots client and their family, matters little to lawyers [YES JUST A MEANS TO ££££££££££££££££] with pound signs in their eyes and the wealthy, secretive judges clinging desperately to their hidden interests and fat Fred Goodwin style pension books.
==================================
Some justice system, oppression of ordinary people for a mafia who are accountable to themselves with the full support of our elected maggots.

Anonymous said...

Can a Sheriff tell the difference between £5K & £150K?

If its in a brown envelope I'd guess they can!

Anonymous said...

Scots client and their hard working family has a legal case, a family tragedy, or a damages claim which can be milked for fees right up to the last minute before the lawyer walks off into the sunset............Oh Yes spot on they milk the money and walk away knowing those they have abandoned will never get another lawyer. This is why they are criminals, their criminals and why I will never trust another ratbag lawyer, professional filth.

Anonymous said...

Was recommended to read your blog by a journalist after we told him our story about our own experiences in the court of session.The judge was so blatantly with the other side our own qc threatened to resign from the case after the judge kept interfering in witnesses answering our qcs questions.It did no good in the end because the hospitals lawyers won as usual and they got the judge to slap us with huge legal bills caused by the other side taking months to answer our lawyers and years for the case to go to court.

The court of session should be abolished and all those judges sacked they are no good for a modern country they think in the past and think for themselves and everyone knows it who goes in front of them my own qc says and also the journalist who told us to read your blog completely agrees with you and even our own solicitor admits going to court is a waste of time now.The hospital who murdered our daughter know what they did and lied to cover it up and cover up all the doctors who couldnt be bothered to treat her for a heart attack and instead of admitting what they did they have gone all out to ruin us spread lies accuse us of making it all up and they even destroyed the cctv of my daughters admission to the hospital with the paramedics who are on our side because the hospital wants no evidence getting out and we wrote to the Scottish Government and they are not interested of no help at all because they knew our case would be made to fail in the court by some judge as you say clinging to his fat pension book.They are inhuman and just in it for the money all are the same only one of the court staff was decent with us and she sat with my wife as she was crying in the waiting room and said a few things about how the judges just sit there and dont care what they hear they just want to get off to their weekend clubs and holidays.
Thank you for allowing me the chance to put what happened to us in your blog.

Diary of Injustice said...

@ 21 March 2014 21:05

You may find the media achieve more in terms of constructive criticism, investigative journalism and campaign for reforms which may otherwise not occur if the media did not pursue the issue ...

Victims of injustice, campaigners, the wider community ... if you feel you want to change the way our justice system currently serves itself, engage with, and support those newspapers and media organisations who have shown their hand and willingness to investigate, publish and support calls for change.

A collective voice is greater than any individual and we all as Scots must stick together to improve our lot, no matter what.

@ 23 March 2014 10:51

Sorry to hear of your family's loss and what happened in the Court of Session.

Much of what you describe is common to many cases which fail due to vested interests and a judiciary which is now so detached from serving the wider community and the country as a whole as you say there must be change ...

If you would like to discuss what happened to your case please email details to scottishlawreporters@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

The courts have always been there to protect the rich and those who dish out to the judges.Even if Scotland gets independence the same carry on will continue and m'lords will stuff their pockets just as they are doing now.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your kind words and for putting my comment up from this morning 10.51am.I will contact you by email.

Anonymous said...

TELLING IT AS IT REALLY IS I AM SO GRATEFUL TO YOU PETER CHERBI FOR WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT THE COURTS IN SCOTLAND THEY ARE A LAW UNTO THEMSELVES GOOD TO KNOW YOU ARE AROUND TO REPORT IT!

Anonymous said...

How about the House of Lords?

Anonymous said...

Self regulation is as one writer put it discrimination by law. The Law Society and it's membership legally discriminate against clients by refusing them justice when lawyers steal their assets. This ensures the lawyers keep their careers and the clients stay ruined perhaps even being labelled vexatious litigants.

The state has enforced this situation because through parliament because self regulation cannot equate with justice. It is a form of legalized tyranny.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
As you say this is all about protecting a closed shop, and a profitable money making racket for those in Edinburgh.

I would like to see some independent, verifiable figures for how many Advocates have represented clients on a no-win no-fee basis in the last 3 years, as it is certainly not my experience.

Lastly, if a case merits the appointment of Counsel there is no good reason why any judge would refuse it.

21 March 2014 21:05
------------------------------

I can now reveal the figures for the past ten years?

2013 - zero?
2012 - zero?
2011 - zero?
2010 - zero?
2009 - zero?
2008 - zero?
2007 - zero?
2006 - zero?
2005 - zero?
2004 - zero?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
The thing is a lot of these claims are driven by lawyers getting people's expectations up just because as you say yourself lawyers see it as a fee milking exercise.

Little surprise after reading your petition reports the judges hearing claims cases have some kind of financial interest in keeping it all going.

Anyone with an ounce of sense will stay away from Scottish courts.

21 March 2014 23:23
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Scottish lawyers have bitten the teets off of this cash cow, so that they can drain the cow even quicker such is their maniacal greed?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Very good as usual Peter and all true.
The courts are as big a rip off as the banks and everything else.
Anyone expecting something approaching the definition of "justice" is doomed from the outset.

22 March 2014 16:42
====================

Anyone with the misconception that they will get justice in the Scottish Justice System are either clinically insane or they have been brain-washed by the 'Borrowing Without Consenters' at the Law Society of Scotland?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

Was recommended to read your blog by a journalist after we told him our story about our own experiences in the court of session.The judge was so blatantly with the other side our own qc threatened to resign from the case after the judge kept interfering in witnesses answering our qcs questions.It did no good in the end because the hospitals lawyers won as usual and they got the judge to slap us with huge legal bills caused by the other side taking months to answer our lawyers and years for the case to go to court.
==================================
Sorry to hear about your loss, they are all insured by Royal Sun Alliance, doctors, NHS, Judges, Court staff, Scotland's Lawyers, Scottish Parliament, QC's and their respective professional bodies. I am not surprised at the way you have been treated it happened to my family too.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Was recommended to read your blog by a journalist after we told him our story about our own experiences in the court of session.The judge was so blatantly with the other side our own qc threatened to resign from the case after the judge kept interfering in witnesses answering our qcs questions.It did no good in the end because the hospitals lawyers won as usual and they got the judge to slap us with huge legal bills caused by the other side taking months to answer our lawyers and years for the case to go to court.

The court of session should be abolished and all those judges sacked they are no good for a modern country they think in the past and think for themselves and everyone knows it who goes in front of them my own qc says and also the journalist who told us to read your blog completely agrees with you and even our own solicitor admits going to court is a waste of time now.The hospital who murdered our daughter know what they did and lied to cover it up and cover up all the doctors who couldnt be bothered to treat her for a heart attack and instead of admitting what they did they have gone all out to ruin us spread lies accuse us of making it all up and they even destroyed the cctv of my daughters admission to the hospital with the paramedics who are on our side because the hospital wants no evidence getting out and we wrote to the Scottish Government and they are not interested of no help at all because they knew our case would be made to fail in the court by some judge as you say clinging to his fat pension book.They are inhuman and just in it for the money all are the same only one of the court staff was decent with us and she sat with my wife as she was crying in the waiting room and said a few things about how the judges just sit there and dont care what they hear they just want to get off to their weekend clubs and holidays.
Thank you for allowing me the chance to put what happened to us in your blog.

23 March 2014 10:51
wvwvwvwvwvwvwvwvwvwwv w w

So sorry to hear of your loss but you are now just another notch on the Judges Bench as having no rights in law and because of the awful thing that has happened to your family, when all you seek justice you are treated as an 'Enemy of the State'?

The only way to stop this overt criminality is to name and shame those imposter's who facilitate this crime?

Only then will the memory of your daughter be honoured and you will be able to grieve with grace and in peace, instead of being cruelly humiliated and preyed upon by the Scottish State, who are increasingly being run by the Law Society of Scotland for Scottish lawyers and their cronies?

I wish you to get the resolution you deserve but you will firstly need to speak out to warn others of your painful experience?

Anonymous said...

What happens in a jurisdiction that is obsessed with secrecy and the absence of transparency and accountability?

The answer is crimes against humanity and atrocities?

This does not necessarily mean death and destruction but can also describe the insidious acting out of vested interests, the diminution of basic human rights and the humiliation and mental anguish resulting in premature death of their victims and the complete breakdown of Society in general?

This is the road that Scotland is travelling down, where the Justice apparatus is corrupt and irrevocably broken, where vested interests are like leaches sucking the blood out of Scotland's bones?

This is the culmination of the Law Society of Scotland's plan, where they have created a climate where Sottish lawyers are above the law and have be one used to getting let off Scot-Free and can commit these grievous crimes against the Scottish Public with impunity?

Over time this rotting and festering stink has pervaded the whole justice system whereby, now it bears no resemblance to anything to do with justice and has become a means to an end for vested interests?

Anonymous said...

You are spot on with the Fred Goodwin remark - these judges have huge pensions and get away with doing anything they want financially including all the same dodges these bankers get up to.
They are all as corrupt as the rest and not one can be trusted now we all know because of your work what they are doing with their finances and all these links to business and other lawyers all not denied I see by Gill who likes to use subtle threats and innuendo in his letters to msps.Just shows you the habits of these types when it is they who face the questions rather than them interrogating us.

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to say that such is my trust in you Mr Cherbi and what you write about and what you have been through yourself I read your blog every day.

Keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

"After all, the poor little Scots client and their family, matters little to lawyers with pound signs in their eyes and the wealthy, secretive judges clinging desperately to their hidden interests and fat Fred Goodwin style pension books.

Unless by chance, that same poor little Scots client and their hard working family has a legal case, a family tragedy, or a damages claim which can be milked for fees right up to the last minute before the lawyer walks off into the sunset, leaving the client unrepresented on the steps of Scotland’s ‘highest court’ – the Court of Session – also known as the worst, most abrasive, most intimidating and most expensive highest court in the entire European Union.

And then, lets not forget those hard working Scots clients who happen to have a property or land which a solicitor works out could be his at the end of the case, leading to a not too lengthy repossession to pay extortionate legal fees, handed over to the solicitor in a wink by some smiling happy judge who fails to disclose his own wife runs the very same law firm who are also known to fiddle their fee notes on a regular basis."

Probably the best description of the justice system and your chances in court I have ever heard in my life!

Anonymous said...

The Scottish Government are a stain on this nation, one of our greatest mistakes.

Anonymous said...

Thanks DOI for telling us the truth about what is really going on in Scotland behind our backs.

Where would we be without you?

Anonymous said...

As long as the same judges are in charge of our courts instead of the we the people who pay for all this there is going to be no justice for anyone unless it suits the wallets of the judges and the lawyers.

Anonymous said...

The judges see themselves as owning our courts so these reforms mean nothing and will do nothing for the man in the street.

Anonymous said...

They are inhuman and just in it for the money all are the same.
=====================================
Yes and many of us like the person who put their horrible experiences at the Court of Session on this blog I have every sympathy for your terrible situation and the loss of your daughter. These people are simply evil inhuman and their Law Society have never denied the suicides they have caused. They all through self regulation enforce discrimination by law. Sadly people who this happens to are marked for life, never able to get a lawyer to act against lawyers. That is their method, refusing legal representation to stop legal action against their brotherhood. If proves legal freedom [ie] the ability for the layperson to act against the professions is non existent. I firmly believe that cases of medical negligence are decided before the trial starts. The system has been engineered that way.

Anonymous said...

The legal profession are a set of bureaucratic gangsters using illegal methods because their victims cannot get access to justice to prevent it or get damages as a result of it. Where there is secrecy there can be no justice. The law changes depending on what the judiciary want, a flexible system where they will represent you for money but repudiate you when your claim is valid because the result will damage a lawyer or his her insurers.

To use an extreme example in Nazi Germany the public never knew whether they were acting legally or illegally because the law changed at the whim of the Nazi Party.

Anonymous said...

There is no law without someone in a position of power to enforce it. This is why the Law Society are dangerous they strip laypersons of legal rights when it suits them.

Anonymous said...

The Scottish legal profession should all be in prison for tyranny against the Scottish people a bunch of expensive ruthless inhumane liars and rogues who see clients as money fodder to pay for their lifestyles. I would never trust any of the ruthless evil people, a scourge on all of us.

Anonymous said...

The Law Society of Scotland an unelected den of thieves who really run Scotland via their MSP puppets.

Anonymous said...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26764929

Look at the size of that giant scottish lawyer they caught in someone's kitchen!

Good thing they trapped it before it became a judge!