Making litigation more affordable

Last year some data from the Citizens Advise Bureau revealed that 7 out of 10 potentially successful employment cases are not being pursued, with a good 50 percent of those being down to financial issues.

Whilst it’s tempting to think that we are all equal in front of the law, there remains a distinct sense that we are anything but.  It’s a major reason why companies such as Logikcull are trying to make the whole process easier and more efficient.

It’s believed that the e-discovery process can contribute to around 70 percent of the costs of any legal proceeding, so reducing the time involved in that can be a huge cost saver.

Using the crowd

Other organizations are attempting to make the legal process more affordable by recruiting the crowd to help meet the legal costs involved.

For instance, I wrote about LexShares towards the end of last year, who are a kind of crowd based investment site.  You can ‘invest’ in a particular case, thus giving the plaintiff funds to pursue their case.  If the case is successful, the backer gets their money back plus a bit of the damages.  If the case fails, then they lose their money.

Another crowd based venture launched in the UK recently.  The site, called CrowdJustice, aims to provide funding to cases that would normally struggle to do so.

Supporting public interest cases

The site was founded by Julia Salasky, who previously worked for the UN, and aims to specialize in so called public interest cases.

“CrowdJustice allows communities to band together to access the courts to protect their communal assets – like their local hospital – or shared values – like human rights. Successive governments have made access to justice harder and more expensive but we are using the power of the crowd to try and stem the tide,” she says.

She suggests that cuts to legal aid has made it harder for poorer people to access adequate legal protection, especially when it comes to challenging large institutions.  This is especially so when the end game doesn’t necessarily result in a large payout.

This could include, for instance, the destruction of a local bird sanctuary or even much larger issues such as torture.

Despite effecting huge numbers of people, it is often very difficult for communities to channel their energies towards fighting the case collectively.  As such, these kind of cases typically require a determined individual to pursue the cause on their own.

The hope is that the CrowdJustice platform will make this considerably easier.  Whether it’s CrowdJustice or LexStorm or Logikcull, there are certainly a wide range of projects aiming to change the legal industry for the better.  It will be fascinating to watch them as they unfold and witness the impact they have.

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