Going to court is mostly brutal and traumatic. I am witness to this every single day, both as a lawyer and as an ordinary citizen who, incidentally, was once the victim of a traumatic crime. I see the effect on clients, friends and family, who, 10 years down the line and several tens of thousands later, are still in limbo, fighting for justice, trying to recover what is rightfully theirs, along with some form of closure. Court is soul-crushing and, potentially, career- and life-destroying. I know good people who have been financially ruined and have lost everything in the process. So, forgive me if I sound callous when I say that the justice system was never really equipped or designed to treat trauma or to repair those who are broken. Quite the opposite. Once you go to court, the only certainty is uncertainty and delay, in addition to being made to relive the ordeal, which is sometimes even more distressing than what brought you there in the first place. Which also explains why many people simply don’t bother. And speaking of trauma, it is neither case nor victim specific. It applies across the board – whether you’re in the throes of a bitter separation case, a libel suit, or...
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