Last year, much to my surprise (and no doubt the equal horror of many others), I was elected to the Council of the Association of Costs Lawyers. The experience has been a fascinating and informative one, in no small part due to the fact that during this period the Council has been going through a […]
Association of Costs Lawyers Council Read More »
The proposed amendment to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill that I discussed yesterday has been causing no end of fuss (understandably) with at least one expert commentator advising against signing a client up to a CFA until the Bill is in its final form. However, further analysis of the proposed amendment
Retrospective revocation – Revisited Read More »
One of the big issues concerning Jackson implementation is which date will be chosen for ending recoverability of success fees. Will it be by reference to the date of the accident date (as per the fixed RTA success fee regime) or the date the CFA was entered into (as per revocation of the CFA Regulations
Date success fee recoverability will end Read More »
Professor Richard Wiseman’s book :59 Seconds records the research of Daniel Oppenheimer and his delightfully entitled paper “Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly”. This revealed that using simpler vocabulary in written text produced a higher estimation of the writer’s intelligence by readers compared with the use of
Legal costs made simple Read More »
The Justice website has been updated meaning a large number of the old links are broken (again). I have therefore gone through the system and updated all the links on Legal Costs Central. All relevant costs information (links to relevant sections of the CPR, Senior Courts Costs Office guidance, historical Guideline Hourly Rates, case law,
Legal Costs Central Read More »
Is it possible to recover retrospective success fees? Read my article on the subject in the Solicitors Journal.
Retrospective success fees Read More »
The Costs Lawyer Standards Board has recently sent out a “Diversity Questionnaire”. Now, I know they are obliged to send out this kind of thing as part of their obligations under the Legal Services Act 2007, but the urge to return the questionnaire indicating that I’m a disabled lesbian gypsy Sikh is damn near irresistible.
Costs Lawyer diversity Read More »
Forthcoming change to CPR 47.14: “(8) If an assessment is carried out at more than one hearing, then for the purposes of rule 52.4 time for appealing shall not start to run until the conclusion of the final hearing, unless the court orders otherwise.” Sensible. It currently runs from the date of the judgment on
Time to appeal extended Read More »
Nice story from Michael Cook, author of Cook on Costs, writing in the New Law Journal: My early legal life in Leeds was full of characters. There was the chairman of the West Riding bench who, after they had found a man guilty of a weights and measures offence, was told that the prosecution was
New approach to summary assessment Read More »
Congratulations to Andrew Post and Alexander Hutton on their appointment as Queen’s Counsel. It appears that eligibility for QC status is limited to practising barristers or practising solicitors who hold higher court rights of audience. No scope for Costs Lawyers to apply. Something for the Costs Lawyer Standards Board to look into?
