Costs Round-Up #46
Welcome to a quick round up of news and blog articles from this week in legal costs.
We start with CFA news that in Milton Keynes NHS Foundation Trust v Hyde [2016] EWHC 72 (QB), the High Court has upheld a CFA as valid despite legal aid remaining in place following transfer of a clinical negligence claim to new Solicitors.
Earlier this month the High Court ruled against Irwin Mitchell and Slater and Gordon in two cases involving medical negligence where Claimants switched from legal aid to a CFA shortly before LASPO, but in Hyde the proximity of the introduction of the Act was found not to be a factor.
Andrew Brough, Costs Draftsman with John M Hayes Newcastle provides insightful commentary on these cases in his blog article “CFA – to be or not to be?”.
We now know that 86 of the threatened 91 court closures will proceed within the next two years but what about the real impact of loss of proximity to local courts for the community? Gordon Exall, Barrister writes an important piece exploring the ramifications of court closures for ordinary folk caught up in legal proceedings and provides a helpful round up of articles relating to the court closure process in his article “Civil Justice Coming to a Call Centre near You Soon.”
The subject of proposed Online Courts and the digitisation of Court proceedings is also considered by Charles Feeny writing in Legal Futures “Online Courts: cheap and cheerful or a true alternative?”
Rights for Women secured a heartfelt victory when government changes to legal aid for domestic violence were found to be “legally flawed” by the Court of Appeal. Their action related to the evidence tests required to secure legal aid representation introduced by this Government I in April 2013 under LASPO. Read more about this successful appeal here.
David Smith, Head of Legal Aid Training at John M Hayes has written a practical blog article on “Costs Orders in Legal Aid Cases” or six column bills. David writes:
“When a costs order is made in your favour it may be an order for the paying party to pay the full costs of the application or alternatively it could be simply to pay the costs of a specific issue or a certain hearing. Whichever order is made you will need to ensure that you claim the relevant costs from the paying party and know what can then be claimed from the legal aid agency.”
Don’t forget to book your place at our free legal aid training events in Bristol and Exeter in March. Click here for further information on venue and dates. Each session will be hosted by David Smith who as well as securing a national reputation as a legal aid costs expert is also (allegedly) the tallest costs draftsman in England.
Until next week
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