All articles by Rachel Rothwell – Page 18
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News
Are judges interested in legal costs?
In a year’s time, everything is set to change in relation to lawyers’ costs. Among Lord Justice Jackson’s many and ambitious plans are a new rule on how to decide whether legal fees are proportionate (met with scepticism by many experts, it must be said), ...
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DBAs move a step closer
With damages-based agreements (or contingency fees as they used to be known) coming into being next April, the Civil Justice Council has now set the wheels in motion to begin drawing up the all-important rules that will govern how the new fees are actually going to operate.
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Lord Young shuns meeting with profession’s regulator
Lord Young of Graffham turned down an offer to meet with the solicitors' regulator in advance of his report on health and safety and the ‘compensation culture’, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said. The SRA said it had ‘offered to engage’ with Young during the research ...
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Government regulation of third-party funding shelved - for now
The question of whether third-party investment in litigation should be regulated by government raised its ugly head one final time in the House of Lords last week.
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Solicitors need to wise up to contingency fees
One of the big uncertainties of the Jackson reforms is how big damages-based agreements (‘DBAs’, or contingency fees as they are more commonly known) are going to be. For the first time outside of employment cases, from April 2013 lawyers will be able to take ...
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Look out for a clampdown on costs
It’s fair to say that most litigators prefer to spend their time on the cut and thrust of litigation rather than compiling detailed calculations of what they expect their final bill to be.
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Storm raging over investing in litigation
Third-party litigation funding (through which investors fund someone else’s case in exchange for a percentage of damages if they win) does not normally receive much mainstream attention in the UK, given that it is a relatively small sector here.
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A blow for case management?
The Gazette reported last week on a case in which former firm Bevan Ashford faces legal action over advice given free of charge by a newly qualified solicitor. Given the number of firms out there offering a free half-hour of advice to new clients, it’s no wonder that so many ...
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Jackson urges caution over contingency fee cap
Lord Justice Jackson yesterday urged caution over setting limits on the percentage of damages that lawyers will be able to take in commercial cases under his reforms. The Court of Appeal judge also acknowledged that his wide-ranging changes to civil justice may not come into force ...
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Court of Appeal orders retrial over Bevan Ashford ‘negligence’ case
A case concerning the standard of advice expected from a newly qualified solicitor in a brief, free, consultation with a distressed client is set for a retrial following an appeal court decision. In Padden v Bevan Ashford, the Court of Appeal overruled a trial judge’s ...
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Can CFAs replace legal aid?
As housing and other social welfare lawyers face the prospect of legal aid being withdrawn from their sector under the government’s reforms, many are looking at whether their practice could adapt to operate under ‘no win, no fee’ agreements instead.
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Flawed logic on tribunal fees
As the government announced plans to introduce fees for using employment tribunals (with a consultation seeking views on two options) it was clear that justice minister Jonathan Djanogly believes too many spurious claims are being brought against businesses under the current system.
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Will Jackson reforms be placed on hold?
The first day of December brought an early Christmas present for legal aid lawyers as justice secretary Kenneth Clarke announced that he would be delaying the legal aid reforms contained in his Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.
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‘Alternative’ litigation funder to invest £100m in smaller-scale disputes
A new-style litigation funder seeking to invest in high volumes of lower-value commercial cases launches today. Caprica, which styles itself as an ‘alternative litigation funding company’, said it would make third-party funding available to a ‘much-expanded’ range of cases, providing access-to-justice for smaller businesses in ...
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Litigation funding under threat?
The launch of the new voluntary code of conduct for litigation funders at the Royal Courts of Justice last night was described as a ‘watershed moment’ by Leslie Perrin of funder Calunius Capital, who will chair the new Association set up to police the code. Another ...
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Would judges jump in the hot-tub?
In his most recent lecture on the implementation aspects of his Final Report, Lord Justice Jackson turned the spotlight on the costs associated with expert witnesses. Particularly interesting were his comments in relation to the ‘concurrent evidence procedure’, or ‘hot-tubbing’, as it is wryly termed by lawyers.
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Is the government’s preference for ‘industry-led’ solutions tipping the scales in insurers' favour?
The relationship between the insurance industry and government has hit the headlines in recent weeks, with justice minister Jonathan Djanogly facing claims that his personal insurance investments could lead him to profit from the government’s own legislation implementing the Jackson reforms. The minister pointed out that he published the investments ...
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Code for third-party litigation funders gets green light
A code of conduct for third-party funders of litigation has cleared its final hurdle and will be published later this month, the Gazette can report. The voluntary code, drafted by a working party set up by the Civil Justice Council as a means of providing a ...
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Jackson keeps a firm hand on the tiller
Last Monday, a group of leading experts in civil justice - many of them solicitors - gathered for a comprehensive discussion on some of the crucial detail concerning the rules required to implement Lord Justice Jackson’s radical reform of civil litigation costs. With the reforms ...
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News
Jackson keeps a firm hand on the tiller
Last Monday, a group of leading experts in civil justice - many of them solicitors - gathered for a comprehensive discussion on some of the crucial detail concerning the rules required to implement Lord Justice Jackson’s radical reform of civil litigation costs. With the reforms ...