BILLS OF COSTS

Inter partes and Solicitors Act assessments

SCHEDULES OF COSTS

Summary assessments (N260, N260A, N260B), Negotiations

COSTS BUDGETS

Precedent H, Precedent R, Precedent T

COSTS SEMINARS

Accredited speakers, in-house or online

ADVOCACY

Detailed assessments, Solicitor-client assessments, CCMCs

COSTS MONITORING

Auditing, cost management and budget control

SUBMISSIONS

Points of dispute, points of reply

COSTS NEGOTIATIONS

Settlement / ADR

17 September 2021

Solicitors must disclose recordings of discussions about retainers

Slater & Gordon has had its application for a stay in claims made by its former clients rejected. A group of claimants have brought claims against the firm over the extent of the charges that were applied against them and the enforceability of the retainers. The court dismissed SG's argument that the proceedings amounted to their former client's lawyers' trafficking litigation and exposing them to risk.

In his decision, Master Rowley also allowed a request by lawyers acting for the claimants for disclosure of recordings that were made at the time the retainers were entered into, ruling that they were relevant.

The full judgment is available here:

8 September 2021

Fixed recoverable costs to be extended with incentives for early settlement

The Ministry of Justice has published its long awaited response to the consultation on the fixed costs recommendations of Sir Rupert Jackson ('SRJ') made over 4 years' ago.

Fixed costs will apply to most civil cases (with a few exceptions such as clinical negligence) with a value up to £25,000. The fast track will be expanded, in line with the recommendation of SRJ, to add a new 'intermediate' track for cases between £25,000 and £100,000.

The proposed bands for complexity and the corresponding allowances proposed by SRJ back in 2017 are set out below and a copy of the the response can be found here:

3 September 2021

Court fees set to increase again

The Ministry of Justice is to press ahead with an increase in court fees. Although the increase will not be as dramatic as the bumper increases of 2016, it will still be seen as controversial against the backdrop of Covid and the serious deterioration in service.
Most practitioners who have had any experience of the courts service over the past 10 or more years will speak to the dramatic decline in the quality of the service, due largely to the savage cuts in staff numbers and the introduction of rushed, poor quality digitised court services.