I've been doing shareholder claims for 15 years. Shareholders and consumers that have suffered as a result of a cartel; these are the areas of growth for group actions. It's very rewarding being able to bring groups of claimants together. They are often ordinary people who have each suffered a loss and wouldn't normally be able to access the courts to recover their loss.

I started working on group actions 20 years ago when I acted for victims of the Lockerbie air crash. I was approached by some of the victims' families and we did the fatal accident inquiry in Dumfries. It was a very emotionally charged case.

There are a number of proposals being made regarding group actions. There is no doubt there will be some changes in the next two years. But I don't expect them to be radical. I expect a wholesale rejection of anything with an American flavour to it.

You can't dismiss the US class action system simply because abuses sometimes occur. It gives access to courts for people who want to pursue their rights. It means wrongdoers pay for wrongdoing.

Companies are much more worried about enduring a cartel class action than facing regulators in Europe. Any knock-on regulation that results from the threat of a class action is good.

But what won't happen here is the emergence of trial lawyers rich enough to own their own Lear jets. The damages will always be much lower here than in the US.

At the moment in the UK, it is very difficult for groups to pull together and pool their resources. That's what group actions are all about. An opt-out process would make things much easier.

I was a member of the Civil Procedure Rules Committee in 1997 and the Civil Justice Council after that. We did bring in a lot of new rules that were very successful, but costs remain the problem area. There are a lot of inquiries into that at the moment.

The notion that during a recession there is more litigation is not true. It's not as simple as that. Litigation often depends on asset values. You've got to have an asset value to make litigation worthwhile. A downturn reduces that asset value.

It's rather like divorce. An economic downturn may give rise to a higher divorce rate due to the stress involved. On the other hand, a couple may struggle to sell the family home and that may cause them to stick together.

Law is in the family. From a young age I was always going to be a lawyer or a politician. I guess I am an idealist. I started standing for parliament in my 20s, but have sadly never succeeded. In 2005 I stood for the Buckingham constituency as the Labour candidate. It is a Tory stronghold, although it was Labour MP Robert Maxwell's seat from 1964 to 1970. I guess politics informs the work I do when I act for consumers and other large groups.

I think Labour is doing reasonably well and I have trust in Gordon Brown, although I don't agree with many of their actions over the last year or so. I do have my differences. I don't agree with the way they nationalised Northern Rock and I think that the shareholders were maltreated.

I've worked in East and Southern Africa for 25 years. I've represented the Ugandan and Kenyan governments. I've also worked for aid agencies in connection with human rights and civil justice. Civil justice and human rights are the foundation of civil society. There are lawyers around the world who put their lives on the line and we ought to be supporting them as fellow lawyers.

I am an Arsenal season ticket holder and attend as many away games as I can. I have three teenage children who come with me. I remember a friend saying to our eldest that being a Gunner is a life of commitment and a life of frustration. The first game I ever saw was the League Cup Final at Wembley in 1968; Leeds beat Arsenal 1-0.

David Greene is a partner at Edwin Coe

Explore Law

• Columnists

• Law Panel

• Law Reports

• Student Law

Times Recommends

• BGC 'set aside £40m to lure Tullett brokers'
• Legal aid review to ensure value
• Fears as 21 magistrates' courts face closure