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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The golden labrador
I have had to reluctantly postpone Sunny’s walk to Save the Children on 17th July to September. The temperature is predicted to hit 36 degrees in the river valley on that day. And although she could easily cover the miles, I am afraid at the moment I could not, and I can’t let her do…
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Better Days
Well my soul checked out missing as I sat listeningTo the hours and minutes tickin’ awayYeah just sittin’ around waitin’ for my life to beginWhile it was all just slippin’ awayI’m tired of waitin’ for tomorrow to comeOr that train to come roarin’ ’round the bendI got a new suit of clothes a pretty red…
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Journal of the Whills
Having exterminated through treachery and deception the Jedi Knights, guardians of justice in the galaxy, the Imperial governors and bureaucrats prepared to institute a reign of terror among the disheartened worlds of the galaxy. Many used the Imperial forces and the name of the increasingly isolated Emperor to further their own personal ambitions. But a…
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Save the Children 17th July 2022
Its that time of year again, when Sunny undertakes her annual walk for charity. This year she is supporting Save the Children. She will walk 13 miles along the Trent Valley Way. Whether it is the trauma caused by the pandemic in this country, or famine in East Africa and the Yemen, or war in…
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Magic
A breeze crosses the porchBicycle spokes spin ’roundJacket’s on, I’m out the doorTonight I’m gonna burn this town down And the girls in their summer clothesIn the cool of the evening lightThe girls in their summer clothesPass me by -Girls in their Summer Clothes, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Like buses,…
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Top Gun
This week I am anxiously considering whether I have time to take my wife, to see Top Gun: Maverick, or whether we should just stay in, and settle in front of the computer screen to watch Mr Benjamin Williams QC, on YouTube, with a bottle of wine. On the one hand, high flying adventure, with…
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The black parade
When I was a young boyMy father took me into the cityTo see a marching bandHe said, “Son, when you grow upWould you be the savior of the brokenThe beaten and the damned?” -Welcome to the Black Parade, My Chemical Romance Next week, the consultation process closes on how the concept of vulnerability should be…
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Assecuratus non quaerit lucrum sed agit ne in damno sit
The Platinum Jubilee is over. Amidst the caterwauling and sentimentality, with the press obsessing over the soap opera of royal life, and the cost of it all, some people are doubtless yearning that we lived in a republic. Set against that the prospect of a superannuated politician wearing a crown or occupying the newly presidential…