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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Twilight’s last gleaming
One of the more interesting points of law that I have argued (alongside and against the rest of the costs Bar) in recent years, was the “assignment point” as it came to be known. The arguments brought back memories of the years immediately after the introduction of the Conditional Fee Agreements Regulations 2000, now safely…
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The game is on
Readers of this blog will know that one of the issues that I have considered from time to time is the principle of proportionality and how in practical terms this can affect considerations of costs management and the assessment of costs. The prospect of a division of the Court of Appeal anxiously considering and explaining…
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Old Possum’s Book of Practical Costs Orders
In the last 12 months, I think I have seen three cases where the parties have reached various stages of detailed assessment proceedings, oblivious to the fact that they do not have an actual or deemed costs Order in their favour, rendering those detailed assessment proceedings a nullity. In the latest one, last week, a…
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The Angels’ Game
What happens in part 45 CPR tends to stay within part 45. There has been a discernible reluctance on the part of the County Court judiciary to exercise their discretion to award costs exceeding fixed costs pursuant to rule 45.29J CPR. Rule 45.29 reads as follows: (1) If it considers that there are exceptional circumstances…
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51st state
Rough winds are currently shaking the darling buds of May. As the third anniversary of the referendum result approaches, the country appears no nearer a resolution to the great political issue of the day. A little while ago, out of historical interest and to remind myself, of how things appeared 3 years ago, I disinterred…
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Full fathom five
Sometimes it is not enough for a solicitor to win a case for a client and to recover substantial awards of damages and costs in order to get paid. This is not only because clients can and do refuse to pay: they can and do lapse into insolvency and in such circumstances both the damages…
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Before the deluge
One of the issues that has been floating around for years in the field of litigation funding is the “Arkin” cap, which has been thought to apply to cap the adverse costs liability of third party litigation funders when a case they have funded crashes ignominously to earth and an application for non party costs…
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Solicitor and own client charging in personal injury matters
I seem to have spent the last couple of weeks since my return from holiday, advising upon and drafting retainers for personal injury matters. The practice of charging clients 100% success fees unrelated to risk and which are then paid by clients from their compensation,is wide spread within that part of the profession. The questions…