Logic dictates that the personal injury small claims limit will have to rise, says Peter Thompson QC
The Legal Aid scheme was built on the assumption that access to justice depended on legal services being available, just as access to health depended on medical services.
In both cases the problem was that the majority of people could not afford such services. They had therefore to be provided by the state, initially by the provision of legal aid and subsequently by the setting up of law centres and the like. The thirst for civil legal aid proved unquenchable; eligibility conditions were therefore tightened and the categories of eligible litigation have been restricted.
To fill the gaps, conditional fee agreements (CFAs) have been made lawful; and success fees and after the event Insurance (ATE) have been made recoverable from unsuccessful defendants.
These developments have given rise to two perceived injustices:an unfunded claimant without a CFA or legal aid is effectively denied access to justice; and because of our ancient tradition of shifting winner’s costs on to the loser, the defendant on the wrong end of
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