November 2025

Is Wraith still relevant when considering hourly rates?

The recent decision of His Honour Judge Matthews, sitting as a High Court judge, in EJW Builders Ltd & Anor v Marshall & Ors (Re Costs) [2025] EWHC 2898 (Ch) questioned whether Wraith v Sheffield Forgemasters Ltd/Truscott v Truscott [1997] EWCA Civ 2285 would be decided the same today. The Truscott decision is summarised in the

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Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys – Wrongly decided? – Part 2

One of the arguments advanced as to why Mazur & Anor v Charles Russell Speechlys LLP [2025] EWHC 2341 (KB) may have been wrongly decided comes from Jackson Yamba,  a registered foreign lawyer at Halifax firm SAZ Solicitors, via LinkedIn: “Why Mazur is Wrong on Exempt Persons under the Legal Services Act 2007 Mazur’s interpretation of

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Does Qualified One-Way Costs Shifting apply to detailed assessment?

The Association of Costs Lawyers’ London Annual Costs Conference was held last Friday. One of the breakout sessions was “An Audience with Senior Costs Judge Rowley”. As entertainment goes, it was better than “An Audience with Jeremy Beadle” but not as good as “An Audience with Victoria Wood”. Each to their own. One of the

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Do Guideline Hourly Rates need to be revisited for Chartered Legal Executives?

One of the apparent anomalies to emerge from Mazur & Anor v Charles Russell Speechlys LLP [2025] EWHC 2341 (KB) is the fact that Chartered Legal Executives with over 8 years’ experience are treated as Grade A fee earners for the purposes of the Guideline Hourly Rates despite the fact that many of them are

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Do Costs Lawyers need to work for an authorised firm?

The recent guidance on Mazur & Anor v Charles Russell Speechlys LLP [2025] EWHC 2341 (KB) from the Law Society states, in relation to those authorised to conduct litigation: “Both the firm and the individual carrying on the activity must be authorised” This is clearly not intended to refer only to solicitors’ firms as the same

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Bill of Costs reduced by 75% because of CPR 44.11 misconduct

Last year I represented the paying partying in a detailed assessment where CPR 44.11 misconduct allegations were raised. The  £258,583.78 claim for costs was assessed at £nil and the receiving party’s solicitor referred to the SRA (Kapoor v Johal, Johal & Johal [2024] EWHC 2853 (SCCO)). The case received significant coverage in the legal press. Not long

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