Whatever happened to Legal Expense Insurance? Recent successes and failures of legal insurance schemes in Australia and overseas
Abstract
Legal Expense Insurance (LEI) is one of the ‘access to justice’ mechanisms that
was considered in many societies in the 1980s and 1990s. Governments, legal
professions and legal reformers in rich western societies highlighted the
potential of mechanisms such as LEI, contingency fees and class actions to
improve citizens’ access to justice by controlling the cost of legal services.
By controlling these costs, LEI and the other mechanisms promised to improve
citizens’ access to legal services and the courts. LEI was particularly popular
because it promised to improve access to legal services for the ‘in betweens’ of
middle income groups. That is to say, it promised to improve access to legal
services for the income groups that were not poor enough to qualify for legal aid
but not rich enough to easily afford the costs of legal services. The evidence
from the last two decades suggests, however, that LEI has been a qualified
success in improving citizens’ access to justice. In general, it seems that the
reformers had unrealistic expectations about the ease of developing LEI. The
result is that while LEI is successful in some societies, the cost of legal
services continues to be a problem for the ‘in between’ in many others.
This article takes stock of LEI developments in a number of societies in the
last two decades and considers its prospects for the future. First, it describes
the development of LEI in a group of common and civil law societies. It
demonstrates that LEI has fared best in the societies with civil law traditions
but that the picture is more ambiguous in the common law societies. It concludes
by highlighting some lessons to be learnt from these developments.
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Legal Services and Neo-Liberalism in an Unequal Legal Order
Tomsen, Stephen (Flinders University School of Law, 2008-04)In 1975 the landmark ‘Law and Poverty in Australia’ report (Sackville 1975a) sought to ensure substantive rather than formal equality before the law for all Australians. A fundamental aspect of its proposals was an extensive ... -
Legal expenses insurance and legal aid? Two sides of the same coin? The experience from Germany and Sweden
Regan, Francis; Kilian, M (2004) -
Strictly confidential? Integrity and the disclosure of criminological and socio-legal research
Israel, Mark Alan (2004)