The civil society

In a continuing series, Fraser Whitehead discusses the lead role played by the Law Society's civil litigation committee in representing the interests of lawyers and their clients following the huge impact of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 and the continuing difficulties that surround funding and costsThe Law Society's civil litigation committee has been fighting for the interests of civil litigators and their clients since 1987.

It may be best known in recent years for its effective work on the Civil Procedure Rules.

Prior to implementation of the reforms, the committee took the lead in representing the profession's interests, commenting on the draft rules, developing draft pre-action protocols and raising awareness about the reforms.One of the great strengths of the committee is the broad base of its membership.

The members are primarily from private practice representing both claimant and defendant lawyers in a wide range of specialisms from personal injury to banking.There is also representation from a local authority, the commerce and industry sector and the Official Solicitor's office.

Members of the committee are also often members of other interest groups and the committee seeks to work closely with other groups on areas of mutual interest.The civil justice reforms continue to keep the committee busy.

Two years is a short period to adjust to such a great change.

The committee monitors the reforms through the Woolf Network, a group of approximately 100 solicitors who answer twice-yearly questionnaires.

The results of the last questionnaire revealed that the reforms still have the overwhelming support of the profession with 80% of solicitors preferring the new system to the old.However, where problems are emerging - namely inconsistency of decisions, conflict between frontloading and proportionality, and the burden placed by case management on the courts - these are raised with the Lord Chancellor's Department.

As part of the committee's role in ensuring that the rules work well, the committee monitors the development of pre-action protocols for civil cases.

In October last year the committee launched the defamation protocol and in March this year the disease and illness protocol - long awaited by personal injury lawyers - was sent to the Lord Chancellor's Department.

The committee was also represented on the working party which developed a draft judicial review protocol currently out for consultation.The funding of civil cases and the costs rules and practice direction continues to be an issue of utmost importance to civil litigators and their clients.

The abolition of the indemnity principle may, in many ways, help practitioners to be able to provide services in a way that meets public demand.The committee is focusing efforts to encourage the civil procedure rules committee of the Lord Chancellor's department to develop necessary rules to comply with the government's intention.Recently, the area that has involved the committee's greatest attention has been funding - conditional fees and after-the-event legal expense insurance issues.Work here has been both reactive andpro-active, the latter including an initiative sponsored by the Law Society and the Association of British Insurers intended to promote discussion and resolution of the difficulties in relation to recoverability of success fees and premiums against losing parties.The initiative is on hold currently pending the outcome of the appeal in Callery v Gray, a case in which the Law Society was invited to intervene and make representations.

This invitation was willingly accepted to assist in bringing about certainty in the lives of litigators and their clients on both sides of the fence.

Another aspect of conditional fees that the committee is working on currently is the implications of the rules of the General Insurance Standards Council which appear to suggest that solicitors who offer litigation support funding will need to be members of this new regulatory body.

The committee is seeking an exemption, although if this is not possible we will seek to minimise the impact of individual membership.

And last but not least comes the issue of profitability.

Most of us are in business, and the Law Society through its civil litigation committee will continue to work for the profession's benefit in this important area.