Legal Costs

As an increasing number of readers of the Legal Costs Blog have observed, posts on virtually any subject quickly have the Comments section descend into a tat-for-tat debate about Costs Lawyers v Law Costs Draftsmen. Although this was certainly not a debate I started, I have to concede I have added fuel to the fire […]

News article from The Telegraph: “Lessons in spelling ‘have no place in 21st century schools’. Schools should stop providing lessons in spelling and grammar because children can correct linguistic errors on their mobile phones, according to a leading academic.” In that case, I wish rather more readers of the Legal Costs Blog posted their comments

A reader of the Legal Costs Blog recently asked the question whether an open offer pursuant to PD 47 paragraph 8.3 can be made with a time limit for acceptance. The wording of the PD simply says: “The paying party must state in an open letter accompanying the points of dispute what sum, if any,

With the new, stricter, test for relief from sanctions applications I wonder how often we’ll hear the comments of His Honour Judge Simon Brown QC in Earles v Barclays Bank plc [2009] EWHC 2500 being quoted where there has been a failure to comply with a notification requirement in relation to an additional liability: “The

The Telegraph reports: “In Blackpool, the heat on Friday had got to two young women who arrived at the magistrates court for a hearing. The women were refused entry because they were wearing only bikinis – not considered appropriate attire for a court. ‘Their dress option was inappropriate despite the heatwave,’ said a court spokesman.

I’ve updated Legal Costs Central with a link to the new Civil Proceedings Fees (Amendment No.2) Order 2013 which gives the new court fees for provisional assessment. Oh. Wait. No it doesn’t. The fees for requesting a provisional assessment (average court time taken up of 37 minutes during the pilot scheme) are the same as

The concerns the Senior Court Costs Office has over the ability to properly undertake a provisional assessment based on the limited documents required to be lodged with the court has apparently led them to recommend to receiving parties that they lodge the full file when requesting assessment. The SCCO has apparently decided not to make

I have just received a hearing date for a detailed assessment hearing in the Senior Courts Costs Office for a bill of costs of under £20,000. The hearing is listed for 25 February 2014. For provisional assessment, PD 47 paragraph 14.4(1) states: “On receipt of the request for detailed assessment and the supporting papers, the

I’ve uploaded an article to the Costs Law Articles Archive first published in the Solicitors Journal on the issue of marketing and referral fees post-Jackson.

I’ve updated Legal Costs Central so this now includes direct links to the post-1/4/13 CPR and Practice Directions and also includes access to the pre-1/4/13 rules, which will remain relevant for a number of years. These are the rules as they appeared immediately before 1/4/13.