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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Costs chat amongst friends
I was very pleased to speak to Jeremy Morgan KC and Andy Ellis of Practico, for their latest Costs Chat with Friends. We discussed a recent Court of Appeal decision, the Voss Report on Litigation Funding (of which more, much more to come) and the ongoing Consultation on costs, focusing on fixed costs, hourly rates…
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The return of the king
“Well, what do they all amount to, these kings and captains and bishops and lawyers and such like? They just leave you in the ditch to bleed to death; and the next thing is, you meet them down there, for all the airs they give themselves.”― George Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan. The reign of Queen Elizabeth…
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Rise of the Robots
In 2020, because of the pandemic, British schoolchildren were unable to sit public examinations, and so were given grades based on their past work. For lazy but bright students who had planned to idle all year before cramming furiously in the last two months, this policy will have been as welcome as a hog roast…
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So, you’d prefer Corbyn then?
Humanity is actually under the control of dinosaur-like alien reptiles called the Babylon Brotherhood who must consume human blood to maintain their human appearance. -David Icke It’s been a strange summer. I became very unwell in early July, with an admission to Accident and Emergency with a 10 hour wait to be seen, and then…
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Summer’s lease
The school year has ended, and like the children, I am now away until September. Alas, I have been struck down with ill health, and rather than heading to Portugal, I am having surgery instead and will spend the rest of August convalescing. Have a splendid summer whilst I am away. This blog will reopen…
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Statutory interpretation revisited
Hobbits delighted in such things, if they were accurate: they liked to have books filled with things that they already knew, set out fair and square with no contradiction. -JRR Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring One of the tools of my trade is a knowledge of the principles of statutory construction. I would venture…
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When a CFA is not a CBA
One of the more esoteric varietals of retainer that a solicitor may make with a client is a contentious business agreement (CBA). Many solicitors will be unfamiliar with this mode of retainer: if you can charge a client on a conventional privately paid retainer, with fees calculated on hourly rates, or if you have to…
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Costs orders and childrens’ cases
Children’s cases in family practice, rarely generate awards for costs. A quarter of a century ago, Hale J (as she then was) explained why the practice of letting each party bear their own costs had developed, in the Court of Appeal decision of R v R (Costs: Child Case) [1997] 2 FLR 95 in these…