Three Suggested Judicial System Reforms

First, if I had the ability to make three reforms in our judicial/legal system, I would start with focusing on better protection for individuals contracting with large companies. The average consumer should not be expected to fully understand and knowingly accept all of the legal nuances to which they agree when buying products or services. Oftentimes, language in the contracts we are all forced to accept places us in arbitration (instead of court) in a foreign jurisdiction and strips us of any reasonable rights to which we should be entitled. Something must be done to level the playing field. What choice do we have when we contract with a major corporation? There needs to be some ability to negotiate.

Second, the judicial system is often times too expensive to enable everyone to litigate and does a poor job of assigning costs to the appropriate party. There should be more cost shifting mechanisms to enable more access to the court systems for all. Also, such an implementation would encourage settlement as attorney fee awards can be expensive and a disincentive towards litigating frivolously.

Third, litigants could all benefit from an improved case review system that would track and expedite cases that too often fall through the cracks in our judicial process.