This is the
7 star Rolls Building
in London which
houses one of the classiest courts in the world. It is the home of our Commercial Court
dealing with cases involving serious money.
Today the court has seen the judgment in the most valuable case in legal history. This was the
battle of the Russian billionaires between Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich and
his former partner Boris Berezovski. Berezovski was seeking damages of over
£3b. They were represented by two of the most expensive QCs in the land. Abramovich’s
silk Jonathan Sumption has been elevated to the Supreme Court since the case was
heard and his fee was over £1m.
For those
who are interested, Mr. Berezovski lost so that should leave Chelsea with plenty to spend before the
transfer window closes tonight.
But all of this
raises a wider issue. This wonderful court building costs £300m –
In other
places around the country we have seen local courts closed in order to save
money. So ordinary people have to travel to other cities in order to have their
cases heard. As we all know Legal Aid is being withdrawn for most types of work
as from next April. We have already talked this week about hard pressed legal
aid lawyers being forced to work on a Sunday. Interestingly the savings from
the Legal Aid cuts are about £350m. So this magnificent court building has cost
the same as the entire Legal Aid budget cuts!
It really
does say something about our priorities.
Local people
see courts closed and their access to legal advice is cut.
Bit if you
are a billionaire we will lay on a Rolls Royce service!
www.eadsolicitors.co.uk
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