A solicitor advocate has been ordered to pay £250,000 in costs after launching a failed lawsuit against The Transcription Agency.
Robin Makin - most famous for representing serial killer Ian Brady, the Moors murderer - launched proceedings in 2021 against The Transcription Agency and Master Jennifer James, a costs judge, under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK GDPR, seeking personal data the defendants held about him. The defendants relied on the judicial exemption and Makin’s claim was dismissed.
In Makin v The Transcription Agency LLP & Anor, the solicitor, of Liverpool Legal, was ordered to pay the costs of each defendant on the indemnity basis, in part because of his ‘grave attempt to besmirch’ the reputation of Costs Judge James.
A detailed assessment of The Transcription Agency’s costs bill took place in November last year and again in June this year before Deputy Costs Judge Lightman. Makin was ordered to pay the costs of the detailed assessment itself on the indemnity basis in the sum of £46,541.40, after Lightman said he had challenged almost every cost on the bill containing almost 1,400 items.
But Lightman revealed in a judgment this month that The Transcription Agency’s bill itself had been assessed in the sum of £177,938.46, which Makin was ordered to pay. Makin was also ordered to pay interest on the assessed bill, totalling £16,154.64, and two of the defendant’s costs schedules - relating to the reserved costs of applications - one from October last year in the sum of £6,320 and one for £2,822 from July this year.
In total Makin was ordered to pay The Transcription Agency £249,776.50. However the order noted he had already paid money on account in four payments - one in September 2023 and three this year - totalling £240,731.21, meaning Makin had only £9,045.29 left to pay within 14 days of the order being made.
Makin is separately facing a further detailed assessment of James’s costs bill, also payable by him, from the same case. At a preliminary hearing in the detailed assessment at Blackpool County Court on 15 July, both parties were represented by both silks and juniors, with Fiona Horlick KC leading for Makin and Daniel Saoul KC for James. On 24 July, District Judge Woosnam ordered that detailed assessment should be fixed on the first available date after 28 November this year.
Woosnam said the case would have a time estimate of four days and also determined that there is a retainer between the Government Legal Department (GLD) and James and that the hourly rates are not limited to the GLD's internal charging rates.
The matter has been listed at Fleetwood for 15 to 18 December 2025.
