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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Castle of wizardry
The Civil Justice Council’s Final Report does not stop at regulation. It also proposes significant changes to the rules of court, case management, and costs recovery. Recommendations 24 to 27 suggest expanded judicial powers over litigation funding agreements, while Part 8 tackles costs budgeting and the contested issue of funder recoverability. The idea that funding…
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Magician’s gambit
In Part 6 of its Final Report, the Civil Justice Council proposes to bring portfolio funding and litigation loans within the scope of formal regulation. This is a notable expansion, targeting not consumer-facing arrangements, but business-to-business lending between funders and law firms. While the aim is to address concerns arising from high-profile collapses of solicitors’…
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Queen of sorcery
The Civil Justice Council’s Final Report on litigation funding proposes a formal system of statutory regulation, replacing the existing patchwork of common law and self-regulation. Parts 4, 5, and 6 of the Report outline this new framework, which is intended to safeguard consumers, encourage transparency, and reduce uncertainty. Drawing on European principles and domestic precedent,…
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Pawn of prophecy
The Civil Justice Council’s Final Report on Litigation Funding, published in June 2025, marks a watershed moment for the funding of civil claims in England and Wales. Prompted by the fallout from the Supreme Court’s decision in PACCAR, the report proposes primary legislation to reconfigure the regulation of third-party funding. It champions a rules-based regime…
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Silver medals
On Friday the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in two very important conjoined appeals about the potential liability of credit hire companies for non party costs orders. A copy of the judgment can be found here: Tescher v DAML and AXA v Spectra [2025] EWCA Civ 733 I am considering the judgment at the…
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Brace for impact
My costs work is divided into advocacy, advisory and drafting tasks. The latter includes the drafting of solicitors’ retainers, which can be found in a suite of documentation including a fee agreement, a client care letter and terms of business. When I am drafting these documents, I must have an eye both to making a…
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Let him have it
Words matter. In law, they are everything. They are the medium through which meaning is conveyed, disputes are resolved, and justice is done, or undone. They define obligations, impose duties, confer rights, and, when ill-chosen, they sow confusion. In a sense, my entire working life, has been devoted to words, in one form or another.…
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Little boxes
One of the consequences of growing older, is that you realise that all time is circular, and you return to moment after moment that you thought past and gone. Thus I have been fighting the costs wars that swing round consequent to a surge in the number of housing disrepair claims, for more than 20…