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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Non party costs Orders and directors
Applications for non party costs orders (NPCOs) are coming thick and fast at the moment: on average I seem to be undertaking one every ten days or so. The applications arise in a number of contexts, but one context that arises time and again, is whether it is appropriate to make a NPCO against the…
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Costs and arbitral proceedings
One of my interests for many years, has been arbitration and more latterly arbitration costs. As well as advisory work, my work in this field encompasses drafting written submissions to arbitral tribunals and very occasionally advising upon and arguing upon points of law in the Commercial Court: cases such as Essar Oilfields Services Limited v…
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Clinical negligence costs revisited
Next Thursday, the 7th December 2023 at 4.30pm, in the last Zoom seminar of the year, the living legend that is Kevin Latham and I will be looking at clinical negligence costs in an end of year round up and looking forward to 2024. In our festive smorgasbord, we shall be covering hourly rates and…
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Black Friday
I am hitting the airwaves again, with the living legend who is Nick McDonnell of Kain Knight on Friday. The subject of our webinar is the current topic du jour, fixed recoverable costs. Assuming you have not, as yet, reached saturation point, please do sign up via Kain Knight’s link. This Friday in the…
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Soft law
Just as many solicitors will proceed from qualification to retirement, without a single solicitor-own client assessment troubling them and in blissful ignorance of the travails of section 70 of the Solicitors Act 1974, so it remains the case that for many solicitors, the Legal Ombudsman remains a distant figure, paid tribute in client care documentation,…
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Nine Hands Cutting
One of the more interesting (and potentially useful) arguments in the recent case of Diag Human SE v Volterra Fietta (a Firm) [2023] EWCA Civ 1107 concerned the doctrine of severance. When an issue of enforceability arises in respect of a conditional fee agreement, or other retainer subject to a statutory regulatory regime which prescribes…
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Rise of the machines
I have been a barrister for nearly 30 years. In that time I have seen many trends, fashions, fads and changes. Some of lasting significance. Some of which have been and gone. Always however, is a constant of technological change. Take this blog for example. It was started in 2012. It would have been possible…
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Blue pencils and green crayons
It is now more than a quarter of a century since I started undertaking work in the field of costs and litigation funding. The year 2000 saw a big uptick in costs work, with the advent of the Conditional Fee Agreements Regulations 2000 and the invention of the enforceability challenge. Commonly recognised to have been…