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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Thick and fast
The last few months have seen an outpouring of legal argument, judgment, analysis and statutory reform on all matters pertinent to Qualified One Way Costs Shifting (QOCS). Shortly I am going to publish a paper drawing the various strands together, looking at the problems that the reforms will cause and which practitioners should be mindful…
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That hard six
Sometimes you just gotta roll the hard six. -Unknown On 2nd February 2023 The Civil Procedure Amendment Rules 2023 were laid before Parliament with the stated intention that they should come into force on 6th April 2023, amending the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 from that date. There appears to be a drafting error in rule…
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Conditional fee agreements and retainer challenges
For many years, disputes about retainers have been at the heart of the “Costs Wars” fought historically against solicitors by compensating parties, and more latterly by their former clients. Unless and until the indemnity principle is fully abolished, such disputes on an inter partes basis are likely to continue, and between solicitor and client will…
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Unbowed, unbent, unbroken
Following on from the decision of the Court of Appeal in University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust v Harrison [2022] EWCA Civ 660, another division of the Court of Appeal has handed down judgment in the case of Excalibur and Keswick Groundworks Limited v McDonald [2023] EWCA Civ 18. This further decision…
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Time to let rip
The ripples from the decisions of the Court of Appeal in Belsner v Cam Legal Services [2022] EWCA Civ 1387 and Karatysz v SGI Legal LLP [2022] EWCA Civ 1388 are still rolling out across the legal pond. There are still substantial numbers of cases stayed, in the Senior Courts Costs Office and in various District Registries pending…
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The Archangel’s Way
May our god of the high moor, of tor and of the singing rivers, guide you, protect you and inspire you with truth, goodness and beauty until your journey’s end. -The Archangel’s Way Blessing. Well done for surviving another year: a year of war, and plague and plunging economic…
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Jingle bells
Once one QOCS case arrives, like the number 27 bus, you know that another one will be close behind. On Friday 16th December 2022, the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in another QOCS appeal. A copy of the judgment can be found here: University Hospitals of Derby & Burton NHS Foundation Trust [2022] EWCA…
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QOCS bounces back
QOCS has been called (by me) the gift that never stops giving. I anticipate that when the rules change, if they change, next year, the appellate case law will continue to flow. This morning, Master Stevens handed down judgment in an interesting case on a QOCS point, which closed off a potential escape route for…