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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Digital gold
At the time of writing, the price of oil and other carbon-based fuels is soaring. Oil has long been a precious resource, for well over a century being the commodity upon which any industrial economy has been built. But carbon-based fuels are set to pass into history in the coming decades, rendered obsolescent by concerns…
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Ca plane pour moi
I have returned from my Easter holidays, with a sense that the pace of events is quickening. Today sees the final round of the French presidential election, with the population invited to choose between two candidates, charmingly described as offering them a choice between plague and cholera, the corks of Party-gate are still popping, and…
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My beautiful reward
Well I sought gold and diamond ringsMy own drug to ease the pain that living bringsWalked from the mountain to the valley floorSearching for my beautiful rewardSearching for my beautiful reward -Bruce Springsteen Protected parties who suffer modestly valued personal injuries such as whiplash claims do not have to make their claims under the provisions…
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Personal Injury Costs 2022
Love them or loathe them, costs webinars are here to stay. In this one from the beginning of March 2022, Craig Ralph and I consider some of the burning issues of the day, in respect of personal injury costs.
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A falsis principiis proficisci
Last week saw the shock adjournment of the appeal in the case of Belsner v Cam Legal Services Limited after half a day’s argument in the Court of Appeal. In order to cast a little light on the issues, the Court of Appeal hearing was televised and the recording of the hearing (as far as…
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Costs and deductions from damages II
“It was much better to imagine men in some smokey room somewhere, made mad and cynical by privilege and power, plotting over brandy. You had to cling to this sort of image, because if you didn’t then you might have to face the fact that bad things happened because ordinary people, the kind who brushed…
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Costs and deductions from damages
“He, er, doesn’t appear much in the history books,” said Vimes. “Sometimes there has to be a civil war, and sometimes, afterwards, it’s best to pretend something didn’t happen. Sometimes people have to do a job, and then they have to be forgotten. He wielded the axe, you know. No one else’d do it. It was…
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Personal Injury Costs 2022
How quickly March has rolled around again. This year, as I do every year, I shall be giving a seminar on some of the big issues in personal injury costs and co-hosted again with Craig Ralph. The seminar will be delivered by Zoom on 3rd March 2022. As the blurb notes: This timely seminar delivered…