I am peeling myself off the floor, having knocked myself down with a feather, after reading your recent article on rising costs and the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) (see [2005] Gazette, 1 December, 1)

Yes, retrograde amnesia really does exist. How many of us remember so well the introduction to the Woolf regime and the CPR, when we were told time and time again that cases must be 'front loaded'. Tables were thumped, hair was pulled and teeth were gnashed in attempts to persuade us litigators that we would have to front-load cases or risk dire consequences.


Civil litigation is labour intensive, and there are probably few who would wish to return to pre-Woolf days, but since we did as we were told, and since then have been front-loading cases and preparing in advance before issue, it is hardly surprising that there have been higher costs.


Jolly nice too of the judges to blame solicitors for 'legal costs inflation' without any mention of rising court fees. After all, fees cannot be any impediment to 'access to justice', can they?


Stephen Pocock, Pocock Harbison, Whitstable, Kent