Lord Justice Jackson’s Preliminary Report on civil costs raises a number of concerns about whether any proper market forces operate in relation to lawyers’ hourly rates in personal injury claims: "For the claimant personal injury market in particular, where the majority of work is conducted under conditional fee agreements, the chargeable hourly rate recoverable […]
Market forces in setting hourly rates Read More »
Surprisingly, legal costs is not a subject that many of the world’s great songwriters have chosen to deal with. You can therefore imagine how exited I was to come across the following: (If you receive the Legal Costs Blog via email you made need to adjust your security settings to view the video.)
The legal costs song Read More »
Recent articles in the Law Gazette have expressed concern about the practice of “third-party capture” where insurers approach accident victims directly in an attempt to agree damages without the involvement of claimant solicitors. Claimant lawyers argue that insurers try to settle these claims below their true value and that without their involvement justice will not
Cheaper personal injury claims? Read More »
Some of you may have already come across Colin Berry. His wife suffered serious injuries following two washing machines falling onto her from a height of 30 feet. (To have one washing machine fall on you may be regarded as a misfortune; to have two looks … etc.) Mr Berry wrote on one website: “My
Legal costs and the "corruption" of the current system Read More »
I recently received an email from someone who is writing an article for their university newsletter and wanted my views on the potential impact of the Civil Litigation Costs Review on defendant panel solicitors. This is an interesting issue and one that, to be honest, I had not previously given much thought to. Much of
One-way costs shifting – The sting in the tail Read More »
At the end of a costs presentation I recently gave to some solicitor clients I was asked if the issue of proportionality was one that still carried any weight in legal costs disputes. Given how central the issue of proportionality was meant to be when the Civil Procedure Rules were introduced, it is strange
Does proportionality still have a role in legal costs disputes? Read More »
I previously reported (see post) on the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) walking out of talks on extending fixed costs in personal injury cases. The latest news is that APIL is now back in. APIL has explained its decision to rejoin the talks being due to the fact that the Civil Justice Council agreed
APIL does the Hokey Cokey on fixed fees Read More »
The, now revoked, Collective Conditional Fee Agreement Regulations 2000 state: “5. (1) Where a collective conditional fee agreement provides for a success fee the agreement must provide that, when accepting instructions in relation to any specific proceedings the legal representative must prepare and retain a written statement containing – (a) his assessment of the probability
Challenging success fees Read More »
An article of mine was recently published in the Solicitors Journal on the future of the legal costs industry. For those who haven’t already read it, it can be found here (click link). Sure to ruffle a few feathers.
Future of the legal costs industry Read More »
I previously mentioned (see post) the forthcoming publication of a new book on the subject of legal costs. I suggested that this book might become the indispensable book on the subject. I have now had the great privilege of seeing a working draft of the book and I was wrong. There is no question as
New legal costs publication Read More »
