Legal Cost Specialists
During the rough-and-tumble of a typical detailed assessment hearing, where the judge will be making multiple ex tempore decisions, it is routine to hear criticisms of the amount of time claimed by the receiving party and/or criticisms of certain items that have been included within a bill of costs. It is much less usual to […]
Recovering shortfall in costs from client’s damages Read More »
Given the Court of Appeal recently adjourned the case of CAM Legal v Belsner, we will have to wait some time for guidance from the higher courts on the issue of informed consent when deductions are made from damages in personal injury cases. However, that has not stopped important developments elsewhere on the same issue
Seeking costs from client in excess of approved budget – ST v ZY Read More »
Recent posts have looked at the problems that arise when a Law Society model CFA is terminated early. A linked problem (though not specific to the Law Society agreement) is where the client moves to new solicitors part way through the claim. A combination of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012
Conditional fee agreements – cap on success fee where terminated early Read More »
A recent post looked at one the drafting problems with the Law Society model conditional fee agreement that arises where the agreement is ended before the successful conclusion of the claim. The relevant clause was: “You can end the agreement at any time. Unless you have a right to cancel this agreement under Schedule 3
Law Society CFA – Early termination Read More »
The Law Society model conditional fee agreement is not very well drafted. (Cue gasps of astonishment.) Although, when I say Law Society model CFA, currently no such thing exists. The last model agreement was updated in 2014 and, even then, appears to have been a temporary job as the header to the document stated: “This
Law Society Model CFA Read More »
The “new” electronic bill of costs has now been around long enough for a clear view to be formed as to its advantages and disadvantages. However, as a starting point to judging its success, it is legitimate to look back at what Lord Justice Jackson stated the express aim of a new electronic bill should
Electronic bill of costs Read More »
There used to be a very old rule whereby counsel was entitled to their full brief fee once the brief had been delivered even if the case settled before the date fixed for the hearing. This is no longer the case. A recent example of the correct approach is to be found in the decision
Counsel’s brief fee where case settles early – Hankin v Barrington Read More »
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) recently announced that it intends the extension of fixed recoverable costs in most money cases worth up to £100,000 to come into force from October 2022. This is, of course, subject to the Civil Procedure Rule Committee redrafting CPR 45 in time. This itself is a significant undertaking, particularly as
Extension of fixed costs Read More »
Significant costs, and much valuable court time, is taken up re-arguing identical points of principle in costs litigation due to the absence of a binding authority. So it is with the issue of the recoverability of court fees. An example is where a claimant pays court fees and subsequently seeks to recover those from the
A (minority) of electronic Bills of Costs that I see follow the Association of Costs Lawyers’ template e-bill. This Bill enables Points of Dispute to be incorporated directly into the electronic spreadsheet. For certain Bills, there may be advantages to incorporating Points of Dispute into the Bill, but I usually prepare Points of Dispute as
Points of Dispute and electronic Bills of Costs Read More »