FIXED RECOVERABLE COSTS SEMINAR WITH LORD JUSTICE JACKSON: LEEDS, 6th FEBRUARY 2017

You will also find below, a call for evidence from The (national) Law Society in order to assist them with their response.

Lord Justice Jackson has been commissioned to undertake a review of fixed recoverable costs, to be completed by 31 July 2017. This review will inform the government’s public consultation on proposed reforms, which will follow the review after consideration of the recommendations.

The terms of reference for the review include:

• To develop proposals for extending the present civil fixed recoverable costs regime in England and Wales so as to make the costs of going to court more certain, transparent and proportionate for litigants.
• To consider the types and areas of litigation in which such costs should be extended, and the value of claims to which such a regime should apply.

Lord Justice Jackson will formally commence his review in January 2017 and has invited written evidence or submissions to assist the review by Monday 23rd January 2017.

Leeds Law Society will be making a submission to Lord Justice Jackson in relation to this review and has therefore prepared a short survey in order to gather information from members.

Please click on this link to take you to the survey:

CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE THE FIXED COSTS SURVEY

The deadline for responses to the Leeds Law Society survey is 22 December 2016.

You may also want to provide evidence to Lord Justice Jackson direct (so that it remains confidential). If so we would invite you to contact him at fixed.costs@judiciary.gsi.gov.uk. Please note that the deadline for submissions of information/documentation is close of business on 23 January 2017.

To assist you with this Leeds Law Society have produced a template. Please CLICK HERE to download a copy or contact sue.harris@walkermorris.co.uk if you would like to discuss the Leeds Law Society submission on fixed costs in more detail.

To help you understand the proposals there is a link below to the lecture given by Lord Justice Jackson on 28 January 2016 where he set out “the grid” (see extract at the end of this email). It should be noted that the figures include allowance for counsel’s fees:

https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/fixedcostslecture-1.pdf

More information can be found about the review on the government website here:- Review of fixed recoverable costs.

Action by The Law Society of England and Wales

The (national) Law Society has launched a fixed costs web page, which provides more detail.

They have also asked for members to provide the following (by 30 December 2016) to assist them in responding to Lord Justice Jackson’s call for evidence: –

1. Providing case studies to illustrate the important role that solicitors play in ensuring access to justice and the risks of creating a system whereby ordinary citizens are left to navigate alone as a litigant in person and, in some circumstances, are deprived of the full effect of the compensation they deserve. They are specifically looking for civil litigation case studies for claims up to £250,000 where a fixed cost regime would not have been appropriate.

If you have good examples of cases that could help, please do provide as much detail as you can using the form located here. Unless you have your client’s explicit permission to pass on their identity, the cases should be anonymised so that no particular individual or organisation can be identified. If The Law Society does include your case study, they will only use it in an anonymised form and will neither identify the participants nor the source of the information.

Please feel free to submit as many case studies as you wish to fixedcosts@lawsociety.org.uk

2. Providing anonymised approved Cost Budgets for claims up to £250,000 across civil litigation. They would also be grateful if you could complete the short attached cover sheet located here with each budget submitted to give some further essential detail.

Please note that unless you have your client’s explicit permission to pass on their identity, the cases should be anonymised so that no particular individual or organisation can be identified. If The Law Society does include reference to your cost budget, they will only use it in an anonymised form and will neither identify the participants nor the source of the information.

Please feel free to submit as many budgets and cover forms as you wish to fixedcosts@lawsociety.org.uk

You should not feel obliged by this request to make any disclosure which you believe would breach any duty to your client.

EXTRACT FROM THE GRID

In this grid, band 1 is for claims where the sum in issue or the value of the property or rights claimed is between £25,000 and £50,000. This encompasses a large number of multi-track claims. Bands 2, 3 and 4 are for larger claims up to a ceiling of £250,000. The suggested figures in the grid include counsel, but exclude other disbursements, the costs of enforcing any order and VAT. The costs of claims above £250,000 can be controlled by means of costs management.

To read this article in full on the Leeds Law Society Website please CLICK HERE.

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