The 5 minute read that enlightens brightens and informs on the week in legal costs
Time, it seems is running out.
Professor Richard Susskind, speaking at the Law Society’s law management section annual conference on Wednesday, has told lawyers “you have five years to reinvent the legal profession” and embrace artificial intelligence and new technology.
How do we teach human skills like empathy, understanding and Justice to Artificial Intelligence? Is this a change for the better - judging by the replies in the comments section, the Professor (an IT adviser to the Lord Chief Justice) is facing an uphill battle.
We mention this article because as Costs Lawyers and Costs Draftsmen we are not immune to change. This week, Lord Justice Jackson proposed decoupling the new electronic bill of costs format from J-Codes in a bid to break the “deadlock”. Adapt and learn to code or become irrelevant. Have your say here where you can participate in the law society’s own survey on the new bill of costs and J-codes.
This week, Suffolk Solicitor, Stevan Stratton has prepared an infographic asking is there equality before the law in injury claims, a useful summary.
Barrister Gordon Exall also provides a helpful note on Churchill -v- Boot (22/04/2016), interpreting “significant development” and amending the costs budget when a claim has doubled in size. In this case, it seems the Claimant gets the boot.
The Guardian picks up the Transform Justice report on legal aid and highlights a criminal case in which an unrepresented defendant remained silent during his appearance via video link from a police station. Only after he had been sent to prison did it emerge that he was deaf.
The Legal Aid Handbook reports on the increase to initial certificate limits in family cases.
At John M Hayes we continue to celebrate the success of our runners, Kenny Shealey for completing the Brighton marathon and smashing his fund raising target and Michael Fitzpatrick for a personal best of 2 hours 12 mins 37 secs at the Blackpool half marathon..best of luck to all runners from the Newcastle office heading out for the Sunderland Race on May Day.
And finally, the first of our peregrine falcon chicks has arrived at Norwich Office, pictures to follow on facebook
Until next week..