The ALP will bemoan the fact it did not implement the Access to Justice report much earlier. The report recommended dozens of ways to reduce legal costs. Now the ALP and Carmen Lawrence cannot shift her $243,000 legal bill to the taxpayer, they will see first hand how lawyers have priced justice out of reach.
The total legal bill for her appearance at the Royal Commission and the earlier challenges to it came to more than $800,000, but the Senate refused to endorse payment by the taxpayer of the amount attributable to the challenges.
The amounts show that the cost of legal representation in Australia has reached absurd proportions. And in this case it did not seem to be very good advice. The huge sums were charged for failed challenges and representation at the Royal Commission which resulted in adverse findings.
None the less, people should not have to face bankruptcy in their attempts to enforce their rights. It seems, though, that the legal profession charges what the market will bear.
It is time both federal and state Parliaments imposed some sensible ceilings for legal fees to be paid for representation at royal commissions and some sensible strict guidelines on what sort of cases will attract taxpayer-funded lawyers. If they did, at least something worthwhile would have come out of the whole grubby affair.