Access to Justice

As he prepares to resume private practice as an arbitrator and begin practice as a mediator, consultant and legal expert, Mr Justice Lightman speaks about the crucial importance in an adversarial system for legal representation of parties, and the importance of mediation in the context of progressive withdrawal of public funding in civil cases.

“The law, the rules of practice and the procedures at trial are not such as to be readily obvious to the layman litigant and he cannot on his own be expected to be able to meet his legally represented opponent on equal terms. If he does litigate without legal representation, there is more than a very serious risk that he will fight the “wrong” fight against the wrong opponent on the wrong basis, will fail to call the right evidence and will be unable by cross-examination or otherwise to meet the case made against him."

“It is against this framework that we must consider the effect of the progressive withdrawal of public funding in civil cases. It must surely be a short sighted economy for us to withdraw the availability of public funding from the under-privileged. It promotes the sense that the protection of the law is for the “haves” and not the “have-nots”. The price to be paid for this in terms of respect for the law and social cohesion should not be underestimated.”