Bid to avoid costly court divorces
Updated on 16 October 2007
Solicitors have been accused of "keeping quiet" about cheaper alternatives to costly courtroom divorce showdowns.
The influential Commons Public Accounts Committee urged the Legal Services Commission to ensure more family breakdowns were dealt with via mediation.
Its call came after the National Audit Office (NAO) found that only a third of people seeking divorce or separation were not advised of the cheaper, quicker mediation route.
Tory MP Edward Leigh, who chairs the committee, said: "Mediation is often a swifter and less acrimonious path, and it is cheaper.
"It is important to avoid courtroom confrontations as far as possible - even if some avaricious lawyers are more than happy to cash in by keeping quiet about the mediation alternative."
The cross-party committee said the Legal Services Commission, which is affiliated to the Ministry of Justice, must do more to encourage solicitors to refer clients to mediation.
Mr Leigh said moves to automatically screen clients' suitability for mediation and a new fixed fee system for solicitors were not enough on their own.
"These ideas are welcome but they will not get far unless the Commission's management information systems are improved radically," he said.
The NAO found that, out of the 149,000 disputes supported by legal aid between October 2004 and March 2006, only 29,000 attempted mediation.
Some 120,000 went through court proceedings or bilateral negotiations through solicitors, while in 33% of cases mediation had not even been discussed.
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