WHEN ONE OF Britain's top judges hit out last month at the 'extravagant' fees charged by some of the country's lawyers and the high cost of taking cases to court, his warning should have set alarm bells ringing in Hong Kong.
The concerns of Lord Phillips, head of civil justice in England and Wales, come more than two years after the system there was subjected to seismic changes intended to give the public a better deal.
'The costs of civil litigation in this country are very large and that is partly attributable to the fact lawyers are very expensive,' the judge told the Independent. The reforms had made the system more efficient, but had not cut the cost of going to court, he added.
His comments are relevant to Hong Kong because a Judiciary think-tank has put forward proposals for a radical shake-up of the SAR's system which closely follows the British model.
And as doubts emerge in Britain about the impact of the changes there, the legal profession in Hong Kong is urging caution.
A recent report by the Bar Association said: 'The public's perception that the proposed reforms will lead to a substantial saving of legal costs may be illusory.'
It also warned that the drive for a more efficient system should not be allowed to lead to changes which compromise justice. Some of the proposals, if not properly handled, could turn the system into a lottery, it said.