Legal Costs

A further definition from The (Alternative) Legal Costs Dictionary: Costs muppet n. someone who had the stuffing knocked out of them when they read the Jackson Report’s proposals in relation to fixed fees.

The legal press and various other sources have been busy in recent weeks providing various summaries and commentaries on the final report of the Jackson Costs Review.  One of the best comes from specialist costs counsel Andrew Hogan of Ropewalk Chambers (although I don’t necessarily agree with all of his interpretations of the proposals or

In a previous post I commented on the unsatisfactory way that legal costs case law (see post) is scattered all over the place and the problems this causes trying to keep on top of developments. One potential solution to this problem may come from the re-launched Costs Law Reports.  This is a publication that has

I have recently been commenting on the forthcoming publication of Civil Costs – Law and Practice, a new book by Dr Mark Friston. To give you some idea as to the scope and ambition of this book have a look at this sample chapter (external link). This chapter deals with the important topic of contracts

BAILII is a wonderful, and free, resource and contains a section specifically devoted to recent costs law decisions.  These are usually mirrored in the excellent, free, Senior Courts Costs Office website transcripts section.  The downside with these sites is that the first does not provide case summaries and the second provides summaries for some cases

I previously reported on the important changes to the rules concerning notice of funding (see link).  I understand that at a recent Civil Justice Committee meeting these rules were discussed.  It was reported that some firms are experiencing difficulties in implementing the new rules and concerns were expressed about satellite litigation and the draconian sanctions

Given the current economic climate, the prices being charges by some legal training conference providers looks rather optimistic, but there is certainly some competition emerging in relation to pricing. The IBC Solicitors’ Costs Conference 2010, on 26th January, is priced at between £599 and £799 depending on when you booked (with a 20% discount for

Many working in the legal costs industry will have gone to work last Thursday, the day Jackson LJ published his final report on his civil litigation costs review, wearing brown trousers.  Most of them will have been spending the weekend updating their CVs.  Those who thought the final report would probably turn out to be

Amazon are taking pre-publication orders for Dr Mark Friston’s Civil Costs: Law and Practice (see link) at the discounted price of £56.25 (with free postage).  This would be an insanely low price for any legal text book. I really can’t believe that the price is so low for this book.  Don’t be fooled into thinking

So, are the proposals contained in the final Jackson Report as dramatic as some were expecting?  Oh, yes. These include: Success fees and after the event insurance premiums to be irrecoverable between the parties (this would mean the end for most ATE insurers); To offset the effects of this for claimants, general damages awards for