I have always found John M Hayes to be reliable, efficient and accurate.
Ryan Reed, Director, H.F.T. Gough & Co Ltd
Welcome to a costs round-up of the best costs-related posts published last week.
In this week’s edition:
Gordon Exall Barrister presents costs reduced from £210,000 to £96,465 on summary assessment: a working example of proportionality in practice saying “It is always useful to look at the way in which courts are carrying out summary assessments. Another interesting example of the pragmatic approach adopted can be found in the judgment of Mr Justice Akenhead in Savoye -v- Spicers Ltd [2015] EWHC 33 (TCC). Costs of £201,790.66 were reduced, on summary assessment, to £96,465.00. It is an example of a judge putting issues of proportionality at the forefront of the criteria to be considered.”
Andrew Hogan costs Barrister presents Conditional Fee Agreements and Capital saying “A key problem in obtaining effective justice in litigation is the inequality of arms which will often exist between a well-funded defendant and an impecunious claimant. Or to put it another way, the imbalance of capital between two parties which enables the richer party to buy better lawyers, better experts and generally turn its financial advantage into strategic or tactical advantage within the litigation.” How do we address this?
Simon Gibbs presents legal cost of travelling to see a client saying “why do some solicitors still insist on travelling half way across the country to interview their clients and/or witnesses?” and offering suitable alternatives. This post includes my favourite comment of the week referring to the ape creatures and obelisks in “2001 – a space odyssey”.
Gordon Exall presents £3,500 damages: 10 day trial, 3 days Court of Appeal, £500,000 costs: Bleak House in Court of Appeal saying “in Gilks -v- Hodgson [2015] EWCA Civ 5 the Court of Appeal had strong words to say about the costs of a boundary dispute. The observations should be read by anyone tempted to litigate about these issues.”
Emma Jackson presents legal aid scheme prevents access to justice quoting Sir James Munby’s judgment in two recent family cases “is this really the best we can do?”
Rachel Rothwell writing in the Law Society Gazette presents the litigation horizon asking “what can we expect 2015 to bring in terms of the way litigation is funded?”
If you blog on costs related matters and would like to submit your post to the round-up e-mail ilkley@johnmhayes.co.uk
Friday 16th January 2015