I write about legal costs, litigation funding and related questions arising in civil litigation. The emphasis is practical: what the authorities mean, how the rules operate and where the real risks lie.
The latest articles appear below. If you are looking for a particular area, the four broad gateways provide a quicker route into the archive.
Costs
Commercial costs, Part 36, QOCS, detailed assessment and related costs issues.
Litigation Funding
Funding agreements, ATE insurance, security for costs and the economics of litigation.
Solicitor-Client & Retainers
Solicitors Act assessments, retainers, CFAs, DBAs, success fees and deductions from damages.
Group & Specialist Litigation
Collective proceedings, group litigation and selected wider developments affecting civil justice.
Recent analysis
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Be careful what you wish for
In the last year, there have been two developments which are likely to be of systemic significance for the future of the litigation funding industry: the first was the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of R (On the application of Paccar v Competition Appeal Tribunal [2023] UKSC 28. Through unprecedented efforts the…
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A paper tiger
One of the oldest chestnuts in solicitor-own client assessments is the solicitor’s bill which grossly exceeds an estimate, or estimate of costs, or has sometimes been delivered to a client, unsullied by the presence of any estimate as part of the background of facts. How should a costs judge sitting on a solicitor-own client detailed…
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Edge of the envelope
From time to time, I am asked to draft bespoke funding agreements, which are tinged with exotic possibility. The usual scenario is that a client and a solicitor, or even a solicitor and a barrister agree terms of trade, and need to have those terms transformed into a written agreement. These can be challenging assignments,…
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The rest is politics
2024 is passing. It is an election year. At the time of writing, the opinion polls show the Labour Party on 47%, the Conservatives on 20%, the Liberal Democrats on 9%, the Greens and Reform UK level pegging on 8% . Although an electoral race is never over until it is over, the smart money…
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The page unwritten
Part of my work involves the drafting of retainers. These can be conditional fee agreements. These can be damages based agreements. They might include discounted conditional fee agreements. They might include collective conditional fee agreements. The retainer may not be for contentious work at all and instead be a non contentious business agreement permitted by…
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Thripsy Shee
So much for the “old law” on how the court will approach the vexed question of whether a case pleaded at in excess of £10,000 but which settles for £5000, should resulting in limiting the claimant’s costs to Small Claims track costs. What is the position under the “new law” which applies post October 2023,…
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A cobwebbed path
The origins of rule 46.13(3) CPR, can be traced to the case of Voice and Script International Ltd v Ashraf Alghafar [2003] EWCA Civ 736 which from the perspective of two decades seems gloriously antique, both in the amounts at stake, and the way in which the Court of Appeal were determined to do justice…
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A hunters moon
One of the pleasures of growing old, is the realisation that time is circular and we return to moment after moment, thought to be past and gone. Why that is, I do not know. It may be that there is some balance that needs to be corrected. Some debt that must be repaid. And of…