Legal Cost Specialists
“The court, in general, assumes that in all cases where parties have instructed different experts there will be, and will remain up to an including trial, a dispute between the experts. If and to the extent that there is no substantial or material dispute between the experts following service of reports or joint statements this […]
Does costs budgeting assume dispute between experts at trial? Read More »
Is a receiving party required to provide a breakdown between the cost of an expert report and the costs of a medical reporting organisation (“MRO”) approached to provide the report, or is it permissible for the receiving party to submit a bill which simply includes the fee charged by the MRO to provide the medical
Duty to provide breakdown of medical agency fees Read More »
“The assembling and pagination of bundles are generally to be regarded as administrative or secretarial tasks the costs of which are taken into account within the hourly rate of the fee earners involved; it is not generally separately chargeable (cf work done on preparing an index and deciding what documents should be included in a
Is work preparing hearing and trial bundles chargeable? Read More »
“In most cases solicitors can be expected to keep a running electronic bundle of documents which can be bookmarked and added to as and when new documentation is made available. This is so even in document heavy cases (perhaps particularly so in such cases). This bundle can then be edited (and the index annotated) so
The cost of reviewing medical records and preparing trial bundles Read More »
“Typically, junior grade D fee earners are, for instance, involved in obtaining medical records from medical providers (and the substantial involvement of higher grade fee earners in this task may be unreasonable).” – from Costs Judge Simon Brown’s Note on costs budgeting in the King’s Bench involving high value personal injury claims
Appropriate grade of fee earner to obtain medical records Read More »
Costs webinar from Kings Chambers’ Andrew Hogan and Kevin Latham reviewing current issues in clinical negligence costs, including fixed costs, the increasing trend towards ADR, hourly rates and deductions for success fees and ATE premiums from protected parties and children’s damages.
Costs webinar on costs in clinical negligence cases Read More »
So far, since the extension of Fixed Recoverable Costs (FRC), there have probably been very few, if any, cases which have gone as far as trial. Unfortunately, once there are, we will start to see all kinds of problems arise because of yet another case of poor drafting. When the FRC rules were first introduced,
Fixed Trial Costs if case removed from list and then re-listed Read More »
The Association of Costs Lawyers (ACL) is consulting on creating a new membership category: Fellow Costs Lawyer. I fear there is some muddled thinking behind this. The right to use the term “Costs Lawyer” comes from completing the relevant training and holding a current practising certificate issued by the Costs Lawyer Standards Board (CLSB). All
Fellow Costs Lawyer Read More »
I was recently asked to review some invoices a client had received from their solicitors. At the bottom of each invoice the client was advised of their right under “the Solicitors Remuneration Order 1972” to require the solicitors to “obtain a Certificate from the Law Society stating that in their opinion the costs charged are
Solicitors Remuneration Certificate Read More »
It has generally been understood that Conditional Fee Agreements in relation to personal injury claims, in proceedings at first instance, must limit the success fee that can be charged to the client to 25% of (a) general damages for pain, suffering, and loss of amenity and (b) damages for pecuniary loss, other than future pecuniary
Cap on success fee in personal injury claims Read More »