No more day in court?

There used to be a widespread apprehension, some would say well founded, amongst members of the general public that claimants who sought the assistance of members of our profession would find themselves thrown headlong into litigation, despite the fact that their preference was for a negotiated settlement of their claims.

Nowadays, one is finding it to be an increasingly common practice, especially of large law firms, to resist the desires of claimants to have their day in court. Although in individual cases there may be good reasons for this, evidence continues to emerge of certain large law firms finding it considerably more profitable to negotiate settlements as opposed to undertake court work. Indeed, I have been shown correspondence from solicitors threatening to “close the file” if the clients persist in calling for court action to be initiated.

How times have changed!