In his recent piece on third-party litigation funding, Roger Smith considered the intervention of a new breed of entrepreneur into the funding of litigation. He sees this as a step in increasing ‘commoditisation’ of the law—defined by Google as ‘transformation of something into an object of trade or commerce’ (‘Third-party funding—regulation needed?’ 172 NLJ 8002, p6).
In a more recent article, he has criticised the government’s delay of its ‘distant and unfunded’ review of civil legal aid as an’ abdication of responsibility’ (‘Civil legal aid: rolling down the road?’ NLJ, 20 January 2023, p6). Both issues raise the broader question: how should our independent legal profession and our justice system be funded?
Double-edged swords
The earliest lawyers in Greece and Rome were unpaid. The great Roman lawyer Cicero
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