‘An investigation into lawyers’ fees has found major disparities between firms, with the cheapest charging £250 for conveyancing and the most expensive £3,200 for precisely the same freehold sale.’
The Guardian, 5th April 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘A settlement agreement provides a central London law firm with a “complete defence” against a £70m professional negligence claim brought on behalf of a Russian oil company, the High Court has ruled.’
Litigation Futures, 30th March 2016
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘The Department for Work and Pensions has spent over £100,000 on lawyers fighting a court battle to save its controversial “bedroom tax” policy.’
The Independent, 28th March 2016
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘Having successfully obtained judgment for your client in a case where your firm of solicitors is acting under a conditional fee agreement (CFA), it is only natural that thoughts will turn to the firm’s own impending financial reward. But the terms of a CFA, negotiated at the outset of the case, can prove to be a barrier to their underlying commercial purpose: payment by result.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 17th March 2016
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
‘The price of getting divorced will soar by 34% from Monday as the Ministry of Justice raises its fees to pay for the overall cost of administering justice. The increase, from £410 to £550, is unlikely to deter many of those determined to separate, but it has provoked anger among family lawyers who say the amount is far higher than the actual cost of the legal procedure.’
The Guardian, 17th March 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Recoverable after-the-event insurance (ATE) premiums are not incompatible with a publisher’s right to freedom of expression, the High Court has ruled – but it is asking the Supreme Court to resolve the case law tension over recoverable success fees in publications proceedings.’
Litigation Futures, 15th March 2016
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘Europe’s new unitary patent is still on track, with a start date in spring 2017 now viewed as likely. Among the ongoing business of the Unified Patent Court’s Preparatory Committee a final publication on court fees and recoverable costs has recently been issued.’
Technology Law Update, 11th March 2016
Source: www.technology-law-blog.co.uk
‘A sole practitioner who overcharged by 500% for private client work has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT).’
Legal Futures, 2nd March 2016
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘Paul Worthington awarded £87,318 for counsel payments and £29,450 for solicitors’ fees to fight against the proceedings.’
Daily Telegraph, 28th February 2016
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘England and Wales should follow the example of Scotland in banning McKenzie Friends from charging fees, the Judicial Executive Board (JEB) has proposed.’
Legal Futures, 25th February 2016
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘The introduction of a £1,600 fee to bring a case to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has deterred many ‘good’ appeals while having no effect on those that are ‘bad’ or ‘opportunistic’, the former president of the EAT has claimed.’
Litigation Futures, 25th February 2016
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘First, the Court of Appeal affirmed that it can be (and on the facts was) appropriate to hold hearings in private where a party asserts confidentiality both in the information itself, and also in the “very existence of [the] information”. The Court approved the principle that, where the effect of publicity would be to destroy the subject matter of litigation as to a secret process, it may well be that justice could not be done at all if it had to be done in public. In those circumstances, the general rule as to publicity of Court proceedings must yield to the interests of justice. It is well worth advisors bearing this in mind when dealing with confidential information cases, and making the appropriate applications at the earliest opportunity.’
Littleton Chambers, 23rd February 2016
Source: www.littletonchambers.com
‘A party who beats a part 36 offer in a case where fixed fees apply is eligible for indemnity costs, the Court of Appeal ruled today in the wake of conflicting decisions at circuit judge level.’
Litigation Futures, 23rd February 2016
Source: www.litigationfutures.co.uk
‘This consultation sets out the government’s proposals for reforming the fee payable for an application for a grant of probate. The proposed fee regime will move from a flat to a banded fee approach, proportionate to, and rising with, the value of the estate, and at the same time will increase the value of the estate below which no fee is payable from £5,000 to £50,000, lifting some 30,000 estates out of paying any fee. The proposals are intended to be fair and progressive. The Government is also considering whether grant of probate applications should be excluded from the fee remissions scheme and are seeking views on this issue.’
Ministry of Justice, 18th February 2016
Source: www.consult.justice.gov.uk
‘For some families it could amount to a potential 129-fold increase in costs.’
Daily Telegraph, 18th February 2016
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
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