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I am a member of both the Hutton Committee (for the LSEW) and a member of the Civil Justice Committee of the LSEW. I write in my personal capacity as a solicitor specialising in costs and as one who has worked to introduce civil justice reform for many years.

In my view this proposed reform should make the process of billing (and more to the point) of receiving payment in between the parties' bills much easier. But this is a significant change for law firms and will need time and to be mandated if it is to work.

Time is needed because law firms must adopt new working practices amongst staff and update software. In this respect the software houses I have spoken with say the upgrade will be part of their licence fees in the usual way so no hefty price tag but Thompsons may be going bespoke, if so that is a matter for them.

The new bill format will need to be mandatory in order to overcome the natural tendency of humans to shun the new.

Putting this altogether I suggested that the new bill and use of J-Codes become mandatory affecting all claims issued on and after 01.10.17 which means the first bills will not fall to be assessed for perhaps another 18-24 months thereafter. This approach will avoid the nightmare of recoding existing WIP and allow the Profession time to adjust.

Even 01.10.17 will soon be upon us.

I reiterate, these are my personal views.