Costs Round Up #66
Welcome to Costs Round Up, a selection of news and stories from the week in legal costs.
Mythbusters (PI Style)
We start with news of the alliance formed to argue the case against PI Reforms. APIL has also joined forces with the TUC to tackle seven myths surrounding the perception of compensation culture and defining three basic fundamental truths supporting compensation here an accident has occurred. Download the booklet from the APIL website here.
Costs Budgeting, Surrey v Barnet and a surprise decision from Newport County Court
Costs law news sees Barrister Gordon Exall helpfully signposting Costs Budgeting: the Key Dates, (subtitled a quick reminder to avoid a sharp but not necessarily short shock) Barrister Robert Marvin outlining the practical implications for recovery of success fees and insurance premiums where there was change from legal aid to pre LASPO CFAs in Surrey v Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust [2016] EWHC 1598 (QB)and Kerry Underwood providing interpretation and comment on Radford v Frade and others [2016] EWHC 1600 QB on CFA scope and a second, curious case at Newport County Court where the Judge allocated a case to small claims following Trial.
Fundamental dishonesty
Neil Rose at Litigation Futures reports on a new interpretation of the law of fundamental dishonesty
Fixed Costs in Clinical Negligence Matters
Changes to costs in clinical negligence cases continue to loom on the far costs horizon with PJ Kirby QC outlining why fixed costs could have grave and unintended consequences.
There is an update on the current state of play in negotiations here.
Legal Aid
Sir Henry Brooke QC shares another tale of LASPO injustice surrounding domestic violence issues – one of a series of articles encapsulating what is fundamentally wrong with the current state of play for legal aid and worth cataloguing and remembering.
The Solicitors Journal reports on the message from the All Parliamentary Group on Legal Aid for the new government to tackle the “dying” legal aid system. There is news too that the threshold on revealing the identity of funders of Judicial Review has been raised to £3000.
John M Hayes
Company news sees us embracing a summer of change at our Sussex office with new premises for August and recruiting for new Costs Draftsmen and Costs Lawyers. Preparations continue for the Legal Aid Practitioners Group conference in October with David Smith, Head of Legal Aid Training working on new material over the Summer and a re-launch set for September.
Have a great weekend and until next week..
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