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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Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit
Since 2013, the number of solicitor-own client detailed assessments has significantly increased. In particular challenges to deductions from damages to pay success fees in personal injury litigation seem very common. In a recent case, District Judge Baldwin the regional costs judge in Liverpool, sitting in the High Court found that a solicitor had obtained informed…
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When the Colosseum falls
“The most worthless of mankind are not afraid to condemn in others the same disorders which they allow in themselves; and can readily discover some nice difference in age, character, or station, to justify the partial distinction.” Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire February has arrived. A febrile atmosphere lies over…
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The fear of the Lord
And he set judges in the land throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city, And said to the judges, Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment. Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you;…
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Silver on the tree
‘That is a chapter of ancient history which it might be good to recall; for there was sorrow then too, and gathering dark, but great valour, and great deeds that were not wholly vain.’ -The Fellowship of the Ring Well done. Well done you. If you are reading this blog, you are still alive, and…
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Rocket science
One of the more significant cases from 2021, will prove to be that of Lloyd v Google LLC [2021] UKSC 50 in which Lord Leggatt giving the judgment of the Supreme Court dealt a hammer blow to the concept of representative actions and narrowed the category of data breach claims where a remedy can be…
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Decision at Winterfell
For many years I have been going to Newcastle upon Tyne. A pleasant city, but very cold at this time of year. This week HHJ Freedman handed down a judgment allowing an appeal and overturning a decision of a district judge, who faced with Notices of Discontinuance on the day of a personal injury trial,…
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Series of dreams
Thinking of a series of dreamsWhere the time and the tempo drag,And there’s no exit in any direction‘Cept the one that you can’t see with your eyes.Wasn’t making any great connections,Wasn’t falling for any intricate schemes.Nothing that would pass inspection,Just thinking of a series of dreams -Bob Dylan After years of desuetude, damages based agreements…
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Costs by Zoom
In October 2021, the Supreme Court gave judgment in Ho v Adelekun [2021] UKSC 43the most significant QOCS case since the Jackson reforms. With Erica Bedford I am giving a Zoom seminar on 4th November 2021 to consider the case, its implications and practical consequences, and the tactical points arising for claimants seeking to preserve their…