Our managing director and underwriting director, Rocco Pirozzolo, recently attended an event arranged by Support Through Court featuring Shadow Attorney General Lord David Wolfson in conversation with journalist Catherine Baksi
Catherine opened the discussion by outlining Lord Wolfson’s distinguished career, beginning as a highly sought-after commercial barrister and then silk at One Essex Court Chambers. In December 2020, he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Justice by Boris Johnson. At the same time, he was created Baron Wolfson of Tredegar and took his seat in the House of Lords.
Lord Wolfson began his talk, titled Why Justice Matters: Personal Stories from Lord David Wolfson, with a touch of humour, stating that since he was poor at maths and squeamish at the sight of blood, law was the only viable profession left open to him. He also shared that law ran in his family. His father was a solicitor, and his mother studied law as a mature student before going on to teach it in further education.
He then spoke about his political background, his appointment to the Ministry of Justice and the surreal experience of being in government during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a compelling and wide-ranging discussion, which included an audience Q&A, Lord Wolfson voiced strong opinions on the shortcomings of the justice system in England and Wales. He said:
“The problem is that if you’re claiming, say, £2,500 in the small claims court, the system is pretty efficient. It’s basically all done online. It’s a glorified form of arbitration, which is fine. And if you’re claiming £250m, the commercial courts provide a globally leading service. What about if you run a fish and chip shop, where your turnover is £40,000, and you’ve got a claim of £30,000? That is a huge claim for a business with a turnover of £40,000. I don’t think our system does that well at all.”
He suggested that more could be done online and criticised the County Court for being outdated, essentially unchanged in 50 years. He attributed this to the consistently low prioritisation and chronic underfunding of justice by successive governments.
Lord Wolfson also expressed concern over the drastic cuts to legal aid, acknowledging they had gone too far. However, he saw little political will to restore civil legal aid on a meaningful scale. He posed the question, “What do we do now?” and offered a candid response:
“We now have a different market. We have litigation funding, which we didn’t have before. We have no-win, no-fee, which we didn’t have before. Are they a panacea? Do they handle all the cases? No, they don’t. And my particular concern is for the people in the middle.”
He then referred back to his fish and chip shop example: “You go to a solicitor, and they say, well, it’s sort of 55/45 in your favour. Will you get insurance for that claim on those percentages? Probably not. That makes it quite difficult because if you lose, you’ll be paying significant costs.”
“So what’s the answer?” he asked. “I think the answer is to have a more streamlined court system for those cases. I would increase the threshold of the small claims court. I would make the fast track in the County Court what it says on the tin. At the moment, I understand that from issue to judgment, the fast track takes 54 weeks.”
He concluded emphatically:
“I would have much more online because, ultimately, access to justice is part of the rule of law. And there’s no point having a rule of law if people can’t access the law.”
Thank you to our charity partner, Support Through Court, for putting on this fascinating event and to Killik & Co. for hosting it at their offices.
