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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Costs budgeting after Harrison I
The most significant decision in the last four years on costs budgeting was handed down by the Court of Appeal in the case of Harrison v University Hospitals and Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust [2017] EWCA Civ 792. This was an appeal from a decision of Master Whalan, made on a detailed assessment. The only…
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Summer’s lease
After several excellent weeks windsurfing in Croatia, I have returned to the usual mountain of “stuff to do”, coupled with the sense that summer is already waning and soon will slip into autumn. In addition there have been a large number of interesting developments in the fields of costs and litigation funding over the last…
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Inquest costs
An old chestnut that still leaps out of the flames from time to time, is the question of to what degree (if at all) can the cost of preparation for and attendance at an inquest be recoverable in subsequent civil proceedings for the negligently caused death of the deceased. The question arises particularly frequently in…
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American Gods
You’d have hope. Rebellions are built on hope. -Jynn Urso. Like the rest of the country, over the last two weeks I have watched with fascination as yet another Conservative Prime Minister commits political suicide with an ill timed election staged mid term, when a sitting government can expect to be at its most unpopular.…
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QUOCS and NIHL claims
One of the points yet to be argued in relation to the QUOCS regime, is its application to a scenario involving multiple Defendants. It is commonly in NIHL claims that a Claimant will start proceedings against half a dozen Defendants and recover damages against some of them and either discontinue or lose against the remaining Defendants who will then…
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Filling the void
“And so, for these reasons the claim is dismissed.” is not a phrase that either a claimant or a solicitor acting for a claimant under the terms of a CFA will relish hearing at the end of a trial. In such circumstances, the next immediate questions are how any adverse costs Orders and own-client disbursements…
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The quantum foam
Part 45 CPR is an interesting section of the rules, which could be viewed as a kind of parallel universe to the one most lawyers inhabit: analogous to the quantum realm, where universal constants simply do not apply. In particular the scale of costs prescribed to apply to, for example road traffic accident claims does…
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And the weak suffer what they must
Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must. -Thucydides Long term readers of this blog, will know that I maintain a rigid policy of political neutrality, reserving the right to be even handedly offensive about the…