TNAG-1589-FCO40-21741-Future-of-the-judiciary-in-Hong-Kong.-Part-1-of-2-1987 — Page 168

relevant to the justiciable issues; secondly, to give the court a sound forecast of the length of the case. The fact that those aims are not and cannot always be achieved does not mean that they should cease to be pursued. If they are achieved the public interest is served in two major respects: first,

first, the time of the court is put to good use and its capacity to do more justice for more people is increased; secondly, the cost of litigation is reduced.

The cost of bad preparation is great and the value of good extremely high. Several people are involved in preparing the case for trial, one of whom is often the trial judge and, where plea courts or call-overs are held, the judge in charge. But no judge can take action until the court is seised of the case.

It is first incumbent on the solicitor to do his work in good time so that both counsel and the court can assess what resources will be required to dispose of the case. Next if counsel is retained he has a similar (albeit secondary) function in regard to preparation and the earlier he can read his brief and give his forecast of length the better. He and his opponent together will know far better than anyone else how much court time will be needed.

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It is undoubtedly true that there are clients in civil actions, matrimonial causes and criminal cases who, although in receipt of full and timely advice, give no instructions or change their instructions and finally take everyone by surprise with the instructions they give on the day of trial. There are some who haplessly contribute to uncertainty through lack of funds. But there are cases where court time is lost and some or all the loss can be attributed to some member or members of the forensic community. And, going back to the vacillating or hapless litigant, his contribution to loss of time is significant enough for it to be taken account of as a factor when establishing a listing system.

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The central figure in all this is the listing officer. It falls to him to plan the best use of the court's time. The better and earlier, the information he receives the better will be his forecasts and judgments and thus the use of the court's time.

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The Chief Justice has instituted pre-trial reviews in criminal cases in the High Court and I would respectfully agree with this and urge that every case of a certain length is amenable to this kind of treatment. There comes a point lower down

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