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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NIHL and success fees
Submissions concluded today before Mr Justice Phillips in Birmingham, on the point as to whether NIHL/tinnitus is a disease or injury for the purposes of fixed success fees under the former part 45 of the Civil Procedure Rules. Judgment was reserved and will be handed down at a later date. The judgment will be reported…
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Be you never so high the law is above you
The title of this post made famous in modern times by Lord Denning derives originally from the writings of Dr Thomas Fuller in 1733 and remains one of those pithy aphorisms which will continue to echo through legal history, for as long as the rule of law endures. Even the lawmakers are subject to the…
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Is NIHL a disease or an injury?
On 16th October 2014 Mr Justice Phillips sitting in the High Court in Cardiff will hear arguments on the issues as to whether NIHL is an injury or a disease for the purposes of fixed success fees in the former part 45 to the Civil Procedure Rules. The judgment when handed down will be reported…
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Assessment of Costs in the Supreme Court
It is always a pleasure to attend the Supreme Court for the purposes of a detailed assessment. Visitors to its building on Parliament Square find a pleasing venue far removed from the squalor of the county courts or the remote eyries of the upper floors of the Thomas More building with its inadequate lifts. Costs assessments are…
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I am not at home
The 13th June 2014 saw the coming into force of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. These Regulations replace the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 and the Cancellation of Contracts Made in a Consumers Home or Place of Work etc Regulations 2008. Keen credit hire litigators will already be familiar…
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Costs barrister gets “sticky”
As this blog approaches its second anniversary I have been doing some tinkering under the bonnet. The first and most significant change is that I have enabled the comments feature: it is now open, to you dear reader, to leave your thoughtful, insightful and non-defamatory comments on each article that I place on here. The…
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Allocation wars and incoherent defences
Since well before the Jackson Reforms on 1st April 2013 liability insurers and others have been fighting battles over allocation of claims to track. The “Holy Grail” is to achieve an allocation of a modestly valued personal injury claim or a property damage only claim to the Small Claims track. A related point is the…
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The chimes at midnight
The recent decision of Lord Dyson published on 28th July 2014 not to set new guideline hourly rates was baldly stated on the Judiciary website in these terms: The Master of the Rolls having considered the Report has not been able to accept that the new rates recommended by the Committee should be accepted. He…