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Paul Bunting, Partner, Aspinall Wright Solicitors
Welcome to a round-up of the best costs-related news and posts published over Easter week.
A topical and timely summary of what the manifestos say on legal aid and access to justice. In a nutshell “…only the Greens promise a full reversal of the cuts. UKIP doesn’t mention legal aid at all, and the three main parties all promise reviews rather than anything specific of substance, with the exception of some specific commitments Labour has made…..” Have your say at the highlighted link.
Wham! Bash! Pow! The superheroes battling to save legal aid is an animated superhero adventure film pitting three audacious lawyers against the justice minister, Chris Grayling. This satirical take on the government cuts to legal aid features the voices of Joanna Lumley, Simon Callow and Sally Hawkins and aims to safeguard legal aid from government cuts • Join the conversation at #LegalAidTeam
Whilst writing, did you know that the public is more concerned about access to justice than free healthcare, according to a poll commissioned by lawyers campaigning to reverse cuts to legal aid.
Elsewhere Andrew Hogan Costs Barrister has updated his blog with a post on proportionality and provisional assessment.Andrew reminds us that “…the new test of proportionality (which is now more than two years old) simply requires a costs judge to go through a bill looking at the items incurred on the basis of a test of reasonableness, and then and only then, having conducted a reasonableness based assessment, consider whether the bill should be further reduced on the grounds that the costs, although reasonable are disproportionate in relation to the subject matter of the case….”
The theme of proportionality continues over at Legal Orange with comments on Webb v Liverpool NHS – a party beating their part 36 offer can still be subject to a proportionate costs order
And for good measure throws in further comment under the title: proportionality has ruined £10-£20K cases – we rather think it’s been one of those weeks!
Don’t forget to register for last minute availability at popular John H Hayes legal aid training seminars. Find out more here
If you have a blog on costs related matters and would like to submit your post to the round-up, e-mail: Ilkley@johnmhayes.co.uk
Friday 17th April 2015