Mr. Daniel McConnell:

We do not accept that argument because if that was the case, why is there no jury in personal injury cases? Is that a demographic deficit? We do not agree that it is. They are erratic because they lengthen the time it takes to get to trial in the first place. They lengthen the time of a trial and, therefore, lengthen and escalate the costs implicated. Simply being in court, the clock is ticking and the legal costs are escalating all the time. Ultimately, it also gets down to the issues of awards. Sometimes awards can be within narrow confines and sometimes they can be much broader. Sometimes newspapers and news organisations have found themselves subject to extremely high award cases. They are erratic. The call for the abolition of juries and a serious harm test would mitigate significantly that unknown or variable in terms of cost. As Mr. O'Connell rightly said, the minute you get a legal letter to your desk in complaint, the clock is ticking and the legal costs are escalating.