Impact of Rising Legal Costs on Access to Justice in Australia

This essay examines the growing problem of rising legal costs in Australia and its significant impact on access to justice, particularly for the middle and lower classes. While government-funded assistance provides some support to the lower class, the middle class often struggles to afford legal representation. The essay highlights that free legal advice is typically limited to basic legal problems, which are often insufficient to address complex legal issues. The author concludes that current measures are inadequate and calls for new and stronger alternatives to make the Australian legal system more accessible and affordable. Desklib offers a variety of solved assignments and study resources for students.

Running Head: LAW
Law
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note

1LAW
Introduction
It has been stated by Ross that there is a significant gap between practice and theory in the
Australian community which is a lack of connection between economy and democracy1. Thus a
significant injustice takes place which may be faced by most of the people in the community. It
has been further stated by Singer that the cost if justice in Australia is prohibitively high. Where
all persons are required to be treated equally before the law there would be no equality provided
to a person who is not able to afford a lawyers in case of a legal dispute2. ‘Lawyers and others
have long been concerned with the inability of significant numbers of people to afford the legal
services necessary to assert or protect their rights and interests. One response has been for
lawyers individually or collectively to provide free legal services to poor or disadvantaged
people. Other responses include advocacy for reform of the legal system or particular laws,
welfare state funding of legal services, developing alternatives to the formal legal system and/or
working for more fundamental social change.’3
Body
1 Gittins, Ross, Defeated By High Legal Costs: The Terrible Injustice Most Of Us Could Face (2018) The Sydney
Morning Herald <https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/defeated-by-high-legal-costs-the-terrible-injustice-most-of-us-
could-face-20170829-gy68pr.html>
2 Singer, Linda. Settling disputes: Conflict resolution in business, families, and the legal system.
Routledge, 2018.
3 Jill Anderson and Gordon Renouf, ‘Legal Services “for the public good” (2003) 28(1) Alternative Law
Journal 13

2LAW
The middle class cannot any longer afford to defend or file a legal claim as the price at which
justice is provided in Australia has doubled over the last decade. Legal disputes are the kind of
disputes which every person tries to restrain from but they inevitable effect all individuals as
they are inevitable in the contemporary society. All individuals in the society are aware of their
rights and liabilities and they do not want to miss out of making a claim where their rights have
been infringed. However as discussed above a legal action consists of significant cost which
most people in the society would not be able to incur. In addition the legal system is so complex
that a normal person cannot survive in it without the adequate and appropriate legal advice. The
situation of high legal cost in Australia is causing significant problems for those who are
involved in legal disputes and do not have access to economic resources. Those who belong to
the investigation conducted by Roach reveal that endless delays in court trial, rising legal fees
and the high cost included in relation to an expert witness have lifted the legal cost to an extent
that it is no longer within the reach of ordinary Australians4. It has been shown by latest figures
that legal aid has been applied for by more than 20,000 people last year in South Australia alone.
Further it has been provided that one out of four parties indulging in a civil case are found to
have represented themselves as they are no longer able to afford legal fees. In the court
observation made relation to part A it was seen that a part who had a strong claim was not able to
sustain the claim in court as it had a relatively inexperienced lawyers as compared to the
advocate on the other side. The party had to settle with an inexperience lawyer as they did not
have the resources to afford a good lawyers because if increased legal fee. It has been provided
the president of law society of SA that a case in the district court in relation to a robbery trail will
4 Roach, Kent. "The wrongful conviction of Indigenous people in Australia and Canada." Flinders
LJ 17 (2015): 203.

3LAW
cost around $100000 which would have been only $40000 a year ago. In addition a massive gulf
is created in the criminal arena in relation to those who are eligible to get legal aid and those who
are not able to afford a representation.
There have been several initiatives which has been taken in relation to addressing the problem of
rising legal fees and making the system more affordable for the public. However these
undertakings have to be proportionate to the contemporary condition of the judicial system5.
One of the critical tests in relation to the judicial system is that whether it is simple, fair,
accessible and affordable. However the Australian legal system for many years is falling short on
all these fonts. In relation to the free legal aid being provided Australia there have been
significant criticisms made. One of the primary criticisms in relation to the policy is that support
is limited to those who belong to the lowest income groups and not to those who belong to the
middle class group. However the contemporary position in the court is such that even those
belonging to the middle class group also are not able to afford the rising cost in the legal system.
in addition it has been argued that government funded legal assistance services which are
provided in the country are not able to keep up with the rising demand, population and inflation
growth. In addition a real fall in the per capita funding is depicted through various budget
figures6.
5 Cooper, Donna M. "Pro bono mediation and the Federal Circuit Court of Australia in Brisbane:
Lessons learned." Family Law Review 6.3 (2016): 230-237.
6 Cohen, Michèle. "Child Protection in the Family Court of Western Australia." (2015).

4LAW
It has been argued by Krayem and Ahmed that most Australians are not able to afford legal help
in relation to anything but the very basic legal issues. It is not possible for people to plan when a
legal issue may come up7. There is no budget which is maintained by the people in relation to
legal issues like discrimination, unfair dismissal, eviction, marriage break down or any problems
related to debts. Normally lawyers charge on an hourly basis in relation to the assistance
provided by them. Where any legal issue in complex in nature and requires more time and
expertise the fees of the lawyers would rise and it will automatically go beyond the middle class
society’s reach8. In addition the fee also depends on the experience of a lawyers. As seen in the
court observation conducted a party was losing out on a very strong claim as he was not able to
afford a experienced lawyer which had been done by the party on the other side.
There have been various platforms which have been provided to the people through which they
can deal with legal issues in a cost effective manner. One of such platform is that which has been
provided through the Australian Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) and is known as the
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Through this platform issues in relation to
consumer laws which the public is subjected to are addressed. However platforms of these kinds
7 Krayem, G. and Ahmed, F., 2017. Islamic Community Processes in Australia. Gender and
Justice in Family Law Disputes: Women, Mediation, and Religious Arbitration, p.246.
8 'Slow, Expensive, Complicated' Legal System Must Be Improved (2018) The Conversation
<https://theconversation.com/slow-expensive-complicated-legal-system-must-be-improved-
25382>.

5LAW
are very limited and apply to a very specific area of law. Thus they are not able to address the
problem of growing cost in the Australian legal system effectively and appropriately.
Conclusion
From the above discussion it can be concluded that the problems in relation to the rising cost of
legal proceedings in Australia have a significant impact in the middle class and lower class of the
society. In addition as the lower class is provided support to an extent by government funded
assistance the middle classes are the real victims of the rising cost. The lawyers are providing
free legal advice in some situation order to address the issue, however such advice is only
provided in relation to very basic legal problems. The natural of legal problems in most of the
cases is not simple and basic and involves a long time period for which continuous payments
have to be made by those who are involved in the issue. These expenses are moreover increasing
very rapidly and is going beyond the reach of ordinary individuals. Thus in the given situation it
be evidently stated that the measures of addressing the problem such as free legal advice and
government funded assistance is not able to address the problem in the contemporary period and
new and strong alternatives are required.

6LAW
Bibliography
Australian Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)
Cohen, Michèle. "Child Protection in the Family Court of Western Australia." (2015).
Communitylawaustralia.org.au
http://www.communitylawaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/CLA_Report_Final.pdf
(2018)
Cooper, Donna M. "Pro bono mediation and the Federal Circuit Court of Australia in Brisbane:
Lessons learned." Family Law Review 6.3 (2016): 230-237.
Findlay, Mark, Stephen Odgers, and Stanley Meng Heong Yeo. Australian criminal justice.
Oxford University Press, 2015.
Krayem, G. and Ahmed, F., 2017. Islamic Community Processes in Australia. Gender and
Justice in Family Law Disputes: Women, Mediation, and Religious Arbitration, p.246.
Roach, Kent. "The wrongful conviction of Indigenous people in Australia and Canada." Flinders
LJ 17 (2015): 203.
Singer, Linda. Settling disputes: Conflict resolution in business, families, and the legal system.
Routledge, 2018.
'Slow, Expensive, Complicated' Legal System Must Be Improved (2018) The Conversation
<https://theconversation.com/slow-expensive-complicated-legal-system-must-be-improved-
25382>.

7LAW