The Forum > Article Comments > Has the time come for the common law to be scrapped? > Comments
Has the time come for the common law to be scrapped? : Comments
By Katy Barnett, published 9/1/2009The adversarial legal system has definite drawbacks. But can a more inquisitorial mode fix those drawbacks?
- Pages:
-
- 1
- 2
- Page 3
- 4
- 5
-
- All
Part of the problem lies in the way in which legal fees are calculated according to time spent, using billable units. I might cost $240 an hour (fair enough, you might say). So I'd charge $24 for every six minute unit I spent working on someone's case. A 5 minute phone call - $24. Drafting an e-mail - $48. And so forth. It all adds up to a massive amount of money when you calculate it that way. I have long been an advocate for the abolition of billable hours, as I believe they inflate costs for clients, and make lawyers more inefficient (the longer you take, the more you can charge so there's no incentive to be efficient).
The problem is that it's hardly worth seeing a lawyer for a claim of $2000 if the lawyer's going to carve out $1500 in fees. It just isn't cost effective. The only thing ordinary people can do is to see a volunteer at a community legal centre, or to seek pro bono assistance. I sometimes wonder if a "Lawcare" scheme needs to be set up (like Medicare). The fact of the matter is that private law (contract, tort and the like) is essential to a just society and if we can't access the law which enables us to enforce those rights, then they are useless.
I don't know what the answer is. But at least I recognise the problem, I suppose.