October 2012

Legal costs is a funny old game. Fixed success fees for employers’ liability claims were introduced on 1 October 2004. Fixed success fees for employers’ liability disease claims were introduced on 1 October 2005. Recoverability of success fees between the parties will end in April 2013 (although not retrospectively). Only now, with the end in

Earlier in the year specialist costs counsel Andrew Hogan wrote about the various alternative proposals for a new proportionality rule. Commenting on the Longstop Model (i.e. undertaking an assessment applying reasonableness and at the end of the assessment process the judge can stand back and reduce the figure further if the amount appears disproportionate –

A reader recently contacted me to ask whether I had any information on how the provisional assessment pilot scheme is working in practice, what is generally being allowed to claimants, and what people’s general experiences have been. I must confess, to date I have not had a single case fall within the scheme. Perhaps claimants

I don’t want to have to change the name of the Legal Costs Blog to the Let’s Have a Go at APIL Blog but they do keep coming out with the silliest things. APIL president Karl Tonks, commenting on the Court of Appeal’s change of mind in Simmons v Castle as to the timing of

The Association of Costs Lawyers recently released the results of a survey of claimant personal injury lawyers indicating gloomy predictions for the implications of the Jackson costs reforms. 78% predicted that they would have less work after implementation. 62% of firms expected to make staff redundant as a direct consequence of the Jackson reforms, while

The aim of costs budgeting, that will be rolled out nationally from April 2013, is to control the level of costs that are incurred. There are a large number of unpredictable factors as to whether this aim will be achieved. However, let those make a couple of assumptions: 1. Claimants’ costs are currently reduced, by

I had a very enjoyable morning last week in Derby giving a training session to Geldards solicitors on the practicalities of costs budgeting. Costs budgeting is, of course, expected to become the norm for multi-track matters come April 2013. (Geldards is a firm that has lucked out having Nicola Mallen has a professional support lawyer.

The Court of Appeal has amended its decision in Simmons v Castle by deciding that the 10% increase in general damages due to come into effect on 1 April 2013 should not apply to those claimants whose cases are funded by conditional fee agreements where the CFA was entered into before 1 April 2013. The

The Costs Law Articles Archive section of Legal Costs Central has been updated with an article previously published in Solicitors Joournal on the extent to which retrospective success fees are recoverable.

The Government has been releasing further details as to how the Jackson forms are to be implemented. In relation to the 25% cap on success fees in personal injury cases, excluding damages for future care and loss, this 25% includes solicitors’ success fee, any barristers’ success fee and VAT. Imagine trying to split that particular