MAZUR COMPLIANT SUPERVISION AND COST EFFECTIVE DELEGATION IN 2025: WEBINAR 5th DECEMBER 2025: “TASKS MAY BE DELEGATED BUT CONDUCT OF THE LITIGATION MAY NOT”

With an appeal pending (at some indefinite time) and the profession still rife with uncertainty we need to consider, head on, issues relating to delegation and supervision.  Get this right and you will be part of a well run and professional practice.  Get it wrong and you can face criminal penalties…

“Tasks may be delegated but conduct of the litigation may not.”

(The Law Society submissions in Mazur & Anor v Charles Russell Speechlys LLP [2025] EWHC 2341 (KB), )

BOOKING DETAILS

Booking details are available here. 

WHY THE WEBINAR?

The issue of delegation of tasks is most often raised in the context of both costs budgeting and assessment.

Rushbrooke UK Ltd v 4 Designs Concept Ltd [2022] EWHC 1416 (Ch) HHJ Paul Matthews (sitting as a Judge of the High Court) said “One of the important skills of a solicitor is to know how to delegate less important work to less expensive fee-earners.”

When speaking at an event earlier this year the subject changed from “delegation” to “Mazur”.  I did, however, ask the audience members (off 100+ lawyers) who there had received training in delegation and/or management.  The answer was nobody.

Appropriate delegation is one of the key factors that determines the financial success of a litigation practice. Indeed success of the practice generally.  Yet it is all left to chance.  This issue of management and appropriate delegation has come to the fore following the Mazur decision.   Tasks can be delegated, however an authorised person has to retain “conduct” of the litigation.

THE WEBINAR

Very little guidance is given to practitioners on what and how to delegate.   A failure to delegate effectively can lead to costs being reduced considerably on assessment and at the costs budgeting stage.  Delegating too much can lead to a breach of the Legal Services Act 2007 and be both a criminal offence and contempt of court.

This webinar considers:

• The statutory duties – who has “conduct” of the action.
• Delegation and litigation in costs budgeting and the assessment of costs
• “The art of delegation”
• What can you delegate?
• Providing guidance when delegating
• Recording and justifying time
• Avoiding allegations of duplication
• Are the costs involved in delegation recoverable?
• Attendance notes and internal notes in delegation

In high value personal injury cases  the role of delegation by senior fee In the note provided by Costs Judge Brown on costs budgeting earners is considered:- “When considering the hourly rates claimed, consideration may be given to the involvement of a senior fee earners in work which could reasonably be delegated to a more junior fee earner (at lower hourly rates).”