April 2013

For those who haven’t come across it yet, specialist costs counsel Andrew Hogan has his own legal costs blog. This is serious in-depth analysis and essential reading.

Readers with a very good memory may recall me writing about a successful challenge I ran as to the unenforceability of a CFA under the, now revoked, Conditional Fee Agreement Regulations 2000, in that the solicitors had failed to advise the client of the interest they had in recommending a particular ATE insurance policy. The

Back in April 2010 I wrote an article for the New Law Journal asking how the new proportionality test proposed by Lord Justice Jackson was actually meant to work. Three years later I am still waiting for an answer. A copy of the article is now available to read on the Costs Law Articles Archive

The old CPD 35.6 provided: “(1) This paragraph applies in cases in which Points of Dispute are capable of being copied onto a computer disk. (2) If, within 14 days of the receipt of the Points of Dispute, the receiving party requests a disk copy of them, the paying party must supply him with a

The new Practice Direction 3.1 to CPR 47.3 increases the powers of principal court officers (I believe I’m right in saying there is currently just one) from £75,000 including additional liabilities but excluding VAT to £110,000 base costs excluding VAT. By my reckoning that means once you add back in success fees, ATE premiums and

Yesterday’s post on the content of replies under the new rules generated plenty of interest in the Comments Section and I therefore thought it appropriate to elaborate on this issue. In response to the fact the new rules state replies should be limited to points of principle and concessions only one reader commented: “An item

Oh dear. I have been warning that costs practitioners did not appear to be ready for the post-Jackson reforms. I have so far received two set of Replies prepared after 1 April 2013, prepared by well known costs firms. Both contained detailed responses to the disputes raised as to hourly rates, detailed responses in relation

I note the new Model Form of Bill of Costs gives the following example in relation to hourly rates: “The claimant instructed E F & Co under a retainer which specifies the following hourly rates. Partner – £217 per hour plus VAT Assistant Solicitor – £192 per hour plus VAT Other fee earners – £118

The other day I found in my email inbox an email from a Svetlana. The subject line read: “Let’s talk more my bunny!” The contents of the email were: “Hi!!! I have decided to write to you and I think that you will write to me. Please do not hesitate and write to me. I

A reader of the Legal Costs Blog contacted me to say one of his solicitor clients had asked the following question: “If we terminate the client’s CFA today and replace it with a retrospective CFA back to the beginning of the case will the client get the benefit of QOCS?” The reader is an exceptionally