Legal Cost Specialists

Legal costs mediation

The other day I attended my first costs mediation concerning mediating costs of detailed assessment proceedings (ie not the costs of the substantive claim but the costs of the costs – claimed at close to £500,000).

I’m not a great fan of the concept of mediation.

Mediators like to talk about achieving a win-win outcome but the reality is that if both parties settle by moving from their primary position they have both lost. It is a lose-lose outcome. Surely it’s much better to expensively litigate all the way in the hope that there is one true winner.

More importantly, if the mediation succeeds I feel sorry for the poor hard-working Costs Lawyer who looses three lucrative days in court plus preparation time. And think of poor Master Campbell who gets deprived of listening to my dulcet tones for three thrilling days. He’d be gutted.

Mediation successful. Hearing vacated.

Don’t go to mediator Phil Hesketh unless you want a similar bad experience.

13 thoughts on “Legal costs mediation”

  1. Will your readership get this irony ? And anyway, can’t we just get back to the weekly debate about Costs Draftsmen being better than Costs Lawyers and how weak the ACL and CLSB are ? It must be hours since anyone talked about that.

  2. Truly Eminent Costs Professional (ahem!)will be surprised to hear that as a result of working for a week on Waitrose`s meat counter I have just qualified as a neuro surgeon.

  3. annon and Annon are not the same person

    This whole debate on CL is getting boring

    There are good eggs and bad eggs on both sides. I judge my adverseries on their skill and the litigation risk that they create for me.

  4. Truly Elephant Costs Professional

    As long as Annon @ 10:42 has indemnity insurance then I see no problem with him/her practising as a neuro surgeon. The Waitrose qualification is clearly respectable, especially in comparison with Morrison’s whereby you simply sit in a slaughterhouse for a day to get such a qualification.

    It’s all these unqualified neurosurgeons that attack those with qualifications that really grind my gears. They are so insecure!

  5. Truly Eminent Costs Professional

    And another thing. My ”truly eminent” title is tongue in cheek, to reflect the inflated egos of costs draftsmen on here, and in the wider community.

    Perhaps you didnt get that.

  6. In my 30 years experiance (Bill drafting and advocacy) i have noticed the profession is no longer full of ladies & gentlemen who treat each other with respect, but full of self opinionated prats who spend all day trying to score points!! oh the good old days when prats would be sacked and coffee was the order of the day following a hearing – winner pays! Nowadays the loser just wants to knock the head off the winner and storms off like a big spoilt baby!! Get a grip please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  7. I am not on any medication. I rarely hear The Voices these days.

    All I can say in conclusion is that for many years when I attended DAHs as a FALCD I often recovered a higher hourly rate due to possession of that status.

  8. Just received my first instructions to complete Precedant H. Yes happy days. I will take 4 hours at £118.00 per hour and wait 2 years to get paid!! oh hang on!! why wont my solicitor pay me now!! He has no cash flow and like everyone else we have to wait. Sorry guys completing Precedant H is not the money spinner you thought unless you have massive cash flow to wait that long to get paid!!!!

  9. As far as I can see TECP has not offered any opinions here. TECP is just responding and clarifying that the title of TECP is in response to the over inflated egos of the costs profession.

    I concur, and this is corroborated by the responses i.e. regularly recover a higher rate due to my falcd status. Please…

  10. Truly Eminent Costs Professional

    I dont have the time, but then again this is a very live issue and this seems like a good forum to have a reasonable discussion.

    Calling people prats and using words such as a**e hole are bad form and signs you are losing an argument.

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