Laying down the law

A great test of political leadership is how well you deal with vested interests on your own side. In his first speech as Lord Chancellor this week, Michael Gove has shown himself willing to tackle a profession which has long been comfortable with Conservative governments and whose reform, as a consequence, is long overdue.

A legal system designed from scratch would not resemble what we have now. The only thing wrong with Michael Gove’s observation that Britain has a ‘two-nation’ justice system is that he should really have said three nations. Like the central London property market, the courts have become the preserve of the very rich and the very poor. The middle is excluded. The rich can afford to revel in the pantomime. So can the poor, thanks to the state’s largesse — albeit to a lesser extent following the coalition’s legal-aid reforms. But those who must cover their own bills, and whose pockets are not bottomless, are being edged out.

It is an irony that a legal system so apparently committed to human rights should create the unjust situation where wealthy individuals and organisations can crush their opponents not through the merits of their case but through fear of landing them with ruinous costs. Michael Gove wants wealthy legal firms to conduct, or to contribute to, more pro bono work. He also wants ponderous procedures to be improved, with greater use of technology to eliminate expensive hearings. But there is an argument for going much further and radically rethinking legal procedures.

The former Chief Justice Tom Bingham argued in his excellent book The Rule of Law that the legal system must be accessible, clear, and able to settle civil disputes affordably. And it should also apply equally to all, regardless of wealth.