VAT – The Bar Council
“Letter received from the Legal Services Commission regarding VAT on Advocates’ Graduated Fee Scheme and Solicitor Standard Fee Claims.”
The Bar Council, 27th January 2009
Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk
Category: fees
Jones v Attrill – Times Law Reports
Court of Appeal
“A solicitor was required to notify his client if he had an interest in recommending a particular insurance policy covering conditional fee agreements, if a reasonable person, knowing the relevant facts, would think that that interest might affect the advice the solicitor gave to his client.”
The Times, 16th January 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
Government ‘repeating mistakes’ by fighting miners in court – The Guardian
“The government is spending millions of pounds in legal fees fighting the claims of sick miners in a move that lawyers say will recreate the mistakes of the past.”
The Guardian, 12th January 2009
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Fees scheme may defuse VHCC row – Law Society’s Gazette
“A breakthrough in the dispute threatening to disrupt trials of very high cost criminal cases (VHCCs) could be in sight following the publication of new funding proposals.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 8th January 2009
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
C v W – WLR Daily
C v W [2008] EWCA Civ 1459; WLR (D) 4
“There was nothing unreasonable in a simple conditional fee agreement entered into between a claimant and her solicitor when liability had already been admitted by the defendant in the proceedings provided that the parties had made a proper assessment of the inevitably much reduced risk of failure.”
WLR Daily, 7th January 2009
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
Family Lawyers Voice Concern at Plans to Reform Legal Support for Vulnerable Women and Children – The Bar Council
“The Bar Council and the Family Law Bar Association have expressed concern over plans, announced by the Ministry of Justice, to roll up payments to barristers and solicitors into a single advocacy fee, putting at risk effective access to justice for those who need most protection.”
The Bar Council, 19th December 2008
Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk
Jones v Attrill; Hibberd v Michael Jane Hair & Beauty; Tankard v John Fredericks Plastics Ltd (Law Society intervening) – WLR daily
“The purpose of reg 4(2)(e)(ii) of the Conditional Fee Agreement Regulations 2000 was to ensure that a solicitor acted and gave advice independently of his own interest. To determine whether, for the purposes of that regulation, a solicitor had an interest in recommending a particular insurance contract to his client, the test was whether a reasonable person with knowledge of the relevant facts would think that the existence of the interest might affect the advice given by the solicitor to his client, and if so, the interest should be disclosed.”
WLR Daily, 15th December 2008
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
Civil Court Fees 2008 – Ministry of Justice
“A consultation on proposals to make changes to civil court fees, particularly in enforcement processes and to make changes to the magistrates’ court fees order.”
Ministry of Justice, 10th December 2008
Source: www.justice.gov.uk
Legal fees to be squeezed under new accounting rules – The Times
“Commercial lawyers already under pressure to reduce fees as the market worsens are facing a new challenge with the introduction of new accounting rules governing M&A transactions.”
The Times, 20th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Regina (Buglife – The Invertebrate Conservation Trust) v Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation – The Times
Court of Appeal
“Where a party with limited means applied for a protective costs order to bring a matter of public importance before the court, and that party was represented by means of a conditional fee agreement, the agreed success fee was relevant to the amount of the cap on the costs order and consequently was to be disclosed to the court.”
The Times, 18th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
Judges’ report backs US-style plan that give lawyers a cut of damages – The Times
“A report seen by The Times supports the adoption of US-style contingency deals in which lawyers take their fees out of damages won for clients.”
The Times, 18th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Solicitors accused over ‘dubious deals’ with union official that cost sick miners thousands – The Times
“Britain’s highest-earning solicitor acted dishonestly and with ‘conscious impropriety’ in dealings with a mining union that led to his firm handling thousands of industrial disease compensation claims, a tribunal heard yesterday.”
The Times, 18th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Solicitors ‘misled’ sick miners – BBC News
“Two solicitors who won personal injury claims for thousands of miners have appeared before a tribunal accused of taking cuts from compensation pay-outs.”
BBC News, 17th November 2008
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Behind the story: How digging for details unearthed a scandal – The Times
“It was meant to give sick and dying men recompense for the irreparable damage to their health caused by years of mining coal. Yet the legacy of the world’s biggest private injury compensation scheme is the number of opulent houses, private jets and luxury cars purchased with the profits of the solicitors who handled their claims.”
The Times,14th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Jim Beresford’s firm made £16.7m in year handling miners’ compensation claims – The Times
“Jim Beresford gained the dubious distinction of being the ‘highest-earning solicitor in Britain’ through the profits generated by his firm’s handling of miners’ compensation claims.”
The Times, 14th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Are high costs failing those looking for justice? – The Times
“The fundamental review of costs of litigation in the civil courts set up under Lord Justice Jackson was described as the biggest thing since the Woolf report, at the Civil Justice Council’s (CJC) costs forum last month — which is appropriate, given that high costs are a particular failure of the former Lord Chief Justice’s reforms.”
The Times, 13th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
R (Buglife — The Invertebrate Conservation Trust) v Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corpn – WLR Daily
“On an application for a protective costs order the principles set out in the authorities were to be applied and the procedure followed in a flexible way, taking into account the circumstances of the particular case. The costs in general should be relatively modest and were likely to be capped. In deciding the amount of any cap on liability the agreed success fee for a conditional fee agreement was relevant and as a result was to be disclosed to the court.”
WLR Daily, 10th November 2008
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
R (Hillingdon London Borough Council and others) v Lord Chancellor and another – WLR Daily
WLR DAily, 7th November 2008
Source; www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
Why David must still be able to take on The Daily Goliath – The Times
“Lawyers are not popular and never less so than when they demand their fees. But to be really despised, we must fight and win a “no win, no fee” case and then have the temerity to request payment of our fees with 100 per cent uplift.”
The Times, 6th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
