The question isn’t the life I deserve; it’s the life we deserve. Is there a point to life if it is not to serve others? We grow up in a society of huge affluence and marked inequity and unfairness. Yet, we can each look around and complain about our lives or do something to make ourselves feel better, and there is no better way to make ourselves feel better than to help others.
The practice of law is in many respects a priesthood in terms of its language, vernacular, rituals and culture. Lawyers who “succeed” the most are often brutally unfair, not only to their own clients but to their colleagues and juniors in firms. Law is a hierrarchy if ever there was one.
The traditional practice of law needs to be dismantled in favour of affordable legal services, and pro bono or discounted work when clients still cannot pay. Defendants who are well heeled can drag out cases for years, denying for all intents and purposes a Plaintiff having a legitimate case heard on its merits.
It’s sad that after centuries of law this is the best system that we have been able to come up with, one that largely preserves the wealth of an “elite” group rather than a balance of justice and equity. Even when law tries to right wrongs, it “rights” them years after those who have suffered the most have endured it for years.
We have a system that protects and favours elitists and rewards greed over virtue.
But that’s the system we have. If there is hope now, it is that the legal forces at work in preserving the status quo have marginally tilted so that it’s not a one-sided, uphill battle. By courts adopting video conferencing and moving toward online filing and no paper records, hopefully more access to legal services will come to those who were miles behind before and are now still miles behind but with a vision of change in view.
I watched a very heartening webinar of judges discussing changes, and one of the things that is truly remarkable is how often our system just assumed people could make it to their court appearances, come hell or high water. And we still assume too much. I had a client in a noisy room during a video conference who shared with me that he could not afford the prices of fast bandwidth at home. He was sitting in Tim Horton’s during a hearing.
There is much to change.
