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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Part 36 offers and detailed assessments
Part 36 of the Civil Procedure Rules has been around since the initial implementation of the Woolf Reforms in 1999 but has been more heavily amended and redrafted than perhaps any other section of the rules. The introduction of part 36 offers into detailed assessment proceedings occurred as one of the Jackson reforms a few years…
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The end of the road
The judgment of the Court of Appeal in the case of Budana v The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust [2017] EWCA Civ 1980 was handed down on Tuesday of this week and may represent the last pronouncement by the courts on the principles applicable to the transfer of instructions by a client from one firm of solicitors to…
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Interpreting part 36 offers
One of the perennial areas of work in costs litigation concerns disputes over part 36 offers. Even now, in November 2017, some 18 years after the introduction of part 36 CPR there remains fruitful scope for satellite litigation over their (mis)use. One area that arises from time to time, is construing what a part 36 offer…
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Costs and unallocated cases
From time to time, part 36 offers are made and accepted in respect of unallocated claims which if they had run their course, may well have been allocated to the Small Claims Track. The settlement will usually provoke service of a Bill of Costs in detailed assessment proceedings in due course, claiming “standard basis” costs, quantified…
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Spring Lecture Tour
Already the diary is filling up for the first few months of next year, and so, precipitate as it may seem, I have had to bring forward my booking arrangements for my spring lecture tour. If you would like me to come and give a talk to your firm, please do drop me a line…
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A new model for group litigation
This summer has seen the conclusion of a number of group actions, including the RBS Rights Issue litigation and the failed attempt at collective proceedings of Merricks v MasterCard Incorporated [2017] CAT 18 under section 47B of the Competition Act 1998. All of these group actions have thrown up interesting issues on the relationship between…
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Creative accounting
In the last few months I have been undertaking an increasing number of detailed assessments where costs management orders have been made in the substantive proceedings and there are “budgeted costs” and phase totals to consider when assessing the costs, acting for both receiving and paying parties. The hearings have been illuminating both for the problems…
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Costs budgeting 2017
On 16th October 2017 I am speaking at the Law Society Commercial Litigation Conference in Chancery Lane on the subject of costs budgeting. Full details of the conference can be found here: https://events.lawsociety.org.uk/ClientApps/Silverbear.Web.EDMS/public/default.aspx?tabId=37&id=1798&orgId=1&guid=07979564-cb9b-404e-ae6c-190c60330413 I understand that there are still a few places left, but for those who cannot attend the conference, I have placed a copy…