Brian Dawson of law firm Walker Smith Way on the truth about delays to justice

THE Ministry of Justice has announced the latest statistics for getting a case to trial.

If you have a small claim in Liverpool it will take on average 36 weeks from issuing a claim to taking it before a judge and for larger claims the average is 54 weeks. Chester is 28 and 61 weeks respectively.

This represents a considerable improvement over the past few years.

The chairman of the Association of Northern Mediators, Anthony Glaister, suggested that if those that started litigation knew at the beginning how long it would take to take it all the way to trial and the costs that were involved many would chose alternative ways.

The government is trying to trim £400m from the Ministry of Justice budget and the idea of taking disputes out of court appeals to Justice Minister Ken Clarke – mediation is good for business as well as good for the taxpayer. Cheshire will play its part although the main court centres in Chester and other cities will by and large be safe from closures. Small county courts may be closed as more claims go online or are settled earlier.

Mediation is on the increase and current reckoning is that it will continue to particularly if the government increase the small claims limit to over £5,000. Larger commercial mediations are also on the increase with mediators all showing more cases being mediated than ever before. But mediation still has a long way to go with far too many cases being settled late or not at all at considerable cost.

The delays to trial just underline how long it all takes.