MAZUR MATTERS 38: THE GUIDANCE FROM THE SOLICITORS REGULATION AUTHORITY: “MAZUR AND CONDUCTING LITIGATION”
The SRA have a specific page which, in turn, provides links to SRA guidance and the Legal Services Act, itself. These are useful links. They include a link to the SRA submissions in the Mazur case itself. “The Legal…
MAZUR MATTERS 37: USEFUL LINKS: NEW GUIDANCE FROM THE LAW SOCIETY
The Law Society has earlier issued two new documents which are guides to Mazur. One is outside a paywall, the other is not. “Mazur – answering your questions” deals with many key issues. (Links are important on this topic -…
MAZUR MATTERS 36: UPDATED GUIDANCE FROM AN INSURER: THE NEW DUTIES ON THOSE WHO “SUPERVISE” – THEY NOW HAVE TO “CONDUCT”
Some of the most useful guidance on compliance and Mazur has come from insurers (perhaps unsurprisingly). It is significant that one of the major insurers has already updated and revised its guidance. This guidance is essential reading for anyone involved…
MAZUR MATTERS 29: MORE USEFUL LINKS: THE FOIL RESPONSE
Here we are looking at another useful link. FOIL (the Federation of Insurance Lawyers) has produced a document dealing with the potential consequences of Mazur for its members. (FOIL has always been such a clever name. This link shows that…
MAZUR MATTERS 27: TWO MORE USEFUL LINKS: A USEFUL GUIDE FROM INSURERS: PLUS THE FIRST “REAL WORLD” CASE WHERE MAZUR HAS LED TO A SUBSTANTIAL REDUCTION IN COSTS
The commentary on Mazur continues. Here I want to look at two useful links. The first relates to guidance given by an insurer. The second relates to the first report (I have seen) on Mazur having an impact on costs….
COST BITES 300: THE SERIES TO DATE: IT STARTED WITH A “BOUTIQUE FIRM”, YESTERDAY IT WAS ABOUT CONDUCT, AND IS UNLIKELY TO END SOON…
This series started in July 2022. I wanted to make sure that we got to look at the “smaller” issues in relation to costs as well as major decisions. Those “incidental” issues, summary assessments, judicial commentary and the like can…
SENIOR COURT COSTS OFFICE GUIDE 2025: NEW EDITION PUBLISHED YESTERDAY
A new edition of the Senior Court Costs Office Guide was published yesterday. Here we provide the link and have a look at one issue relating to “representation”. (“Hot off the press is a term that is difficult to apply…
MAZUR MATTERS 20: TWO MORE USEFUL LINKS: WHAT IS NOT THE CONDUCT OF LITIGATION? PLUS A SNIPPET OF THE LAW SOCIETY GUIDANCE
I am continuing with the Mazur series by looking at two more useful links from reputable sources. One, from the Bar Standards Board, on what is not the conduct of litigation the other the Law Society Practice Note on these…
INTRODUCING THE NEW CIVIL LITIGATION BRIEF “TOOLBOX” SERIES : WHERE’S THE BEST PLACE TO FIND WHAT YOU WANT
One of the purposes of this site is as a working “toolbox” for practitioners. To provide a useful and readily accessible source of information when particular issues arise. For that reason something new is starting on this site in the…
EXPERT WITNESSES – VITAL PARTICIPANTS IN CIVIL JUSTICE: “SHOW YOUR WORKINGS” – SPEECH BY LORD JUSTICE BIRSS THAT I AM ENCOURAGING YOU TO READ
I am here encouraging lawyers and experts to read the speech of Lord Justice Birss’ speech to the Expert Witness Institute. It was the keynote speech to the Expert Witness Institute’s Annual Conference. I have extracted highlights. (The science teacher’s…
MEMBER NEWS: THE SEARCH FACILITY ON THIS SITE AND FINDING RELATED MATERIAL
It is now three weeks and a day since this site took up the membership subscription model. It has been an interesting time. Not least it has enabled me to fully appreciate the full range of the site’s readership ,…
UPDATE TO HCMTS GUIDANCE ON USING THE DAMAGES CLAIM PORTAL
HMCTS has, this month, issued an updated version of the Guidance to using MyHMCTS. THE GUIDANCE The updated guidance is available here. Damages Claims Portal Issue to Respond Guidance June 2025 V1.6 THE OVERVIEW “Overview The Damages Claims Portal…
NEW COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION) GUIDE 2025: A USEFUL LINK TO AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE
A new Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Guide has been published. It provides an essential guide to Court of Appeal cases. THE PURPOSE OF THE GUIDE “The main purpose of this Guide is to set out as clearly as…
CHIEF CORONER’S GUIDANCE FOR CORONERS ON THE BENCH: A USEFUL SOURCE OF INFORMATION FOR ALL THOSE INVOLVED IN INQUESTS
Today has been a day for sending out useful links. Here we have a useful link for all those who are involved in inquests. A link to the Chief Coroner’s Guidance for Coroners on the Bench which was revised earlier…
PREPARING BUNDLES: A FREE ONLINE TOOL THAT MAY WELL HELP: INTRODUCING “BUNTOOL”
The last few weeks have seen a number of cases where judges have been critical (if not despairing) at the quality of the the bundles used at trials and applications. My attention has been drawn to “BunTool” a free online…
HMCTS GUIDANCE ON HOW TO ISSUE AND MANAGE A MONEY CLAIM ONLINE: GUIDE FOR LEGAL PROFESSIONALS
HM Courts and Tribunal Services have published two documents to help legal professionals issue and manage an online money claim. THE DOCUMENTS 1. Issue and online money claim as a legal professional 2. Manage and online money claim as…
THE PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE LAW OF LIMITATION AND CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE: DOES THIS GIVE RISE TO A PRACTICAL PROBLEM FOR PRACTITIONERS AND VICTIMS?
In a webinar on limitation tomorrow I am considering, among many other issues, the government’s proposals on changes to limitation in child sexual abuse cases. In particular whether there is a practical dilemma for practitioners with actions that are pending. …
ADVOCACY – THE JUDGE’S VIEW XIV: “RAMBO TACTICS” DO NOT WORK (NEITHER DO THREATENING YOUR OPPONENT WITH A PROCTOLOGY EXAMINATION OR MAKING FACES AT THE JUDGE…)
Continuing with revisiting guidance from judges in relation to advocacy. Here I advocate (hopefully in a civil way) learning from one judgment. That is the judgment of District Judge Chin in the extraordinary case of Revson -v- Cinque & Cinque in…
ADVOCACY – THE JUDGE’S VIEW XIII: GUIDANCE ON SKELETON ARGUMENTS: “PUT YOURSELF IN THE POSITION OF THE JUDGE”: “DIFFICULT TO READ, DISGUSTING TO TOUCH AND IMPOSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND. IT IS WORSE THAN NO SKELETON AT ALL”
This post is another in the series of repeats of the series on advocacy. This blog has many posts that record cases where judges have been critical of the contents (and usually length) of skeleton arguments. A remedy for most…
OGDEN TABLES UPDATED TO INCLUDE + 0.5% RATE
An updated set of Additional Tables have been added to The Ogden Tables today to include the 0.5% rate that came into force in January. THE UPDATES The updates can be found on this link. … Enjoying this post? Become a…
ADVOCACY THE JUDGE’S VIEW X: A RECAP OF THE POINTS SO FAR: 10 KEY POINTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Carrying on with our revisiting this series we are having a short recap. Here were look at 10 key pieces of advice arising from the series so far. (There are plenty more to come). 1. ADVICE FROM CANADA – MANNERS…
ADVOCACY THE JUDGE’S VIEW IX: DOES WHAT YOU WEAR TO COURT MATTER?
We are revisiting to the series on “Advocacy – the Judge’s view”. This particular post was originally inspired by a search term that arrived on this this blog “Can a solicitor dress casually in county court”. This caused a lot…
68 YEARS AND STILL ROLLING OFF THE PRESS: THE 15TH EDITION OF MUNKMAN (& EXALL) ON DAMAGES:A LOOK AT THE PAST EDITIONS AND WHAT WE CAN LEARN
The latest edition of what, used to be called, Munkman on Damages is now hot off the press. This is the 15th edition, the first being written in 1956. Now called Munkman and Exall on Damages for Personal Injury and…
ANOTHER (WELL HIDDEN) CHANGE IN THE SPECIAL ACCOUNT RATE: REDUCED TO 4.75%
I am grateful to Barrister Matthew White for pointing out that the Courts Funds Office has reduced the special account rate from 5% to 4.75% from 6/12/24. MATHEW’S SPECIAL DAMAGES INTEREST CALCULATOR Mathew’s special damages interest calculator reflects the change….
ADVOCACY – THE JUDGE’S VIEW: A REPEAT ii: “USEFUL, JUST & CHEAP”: GUIDANCE FROM AUSTRALIA
The post I repeated yesterday on Things Lawyers do to Annoy Judges was, without doubt, when first written one of the most publicised and read posts on this blog. I think it was that post that led to the blog…
THINGS THAT LAWYERS DO TO ANNOY JUDGES: THE START OF A SERIES OF “REPEATS” (1)
Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with the judgment of Mr Justice Joseph W. Quinn He has been blunt in his assessment of witness credibility in some reported cases. He is equally blunt in his assessment of lawyers…
THE ADMINISTRATIVE COURT JUDICIAL REVIEW COURT 2024: TIME LIMITS AND PROCEDURAL RIGOUR
The latest Administrative Court Judicial Review Guide is now available and can be found here. It is dated October 2014 but was published yesterday – well ahead of time. I am simply highlighting two aspects of the Guide. “…
A SHOUT OUT FOR THE TECHNICAL CREW: BIG YELLOW WORKSHOP
A week or so ago this blog disappeared. Well the blog was still here but every word of content had gone. The technical problem that caused this was solved within hours by my friends at the Big Yellow Workshop. What…
FLOODING AND THE LAW: USEFUL LINKS AND GENERAL GUIDANCE
Simply judging by the state of the rivers, and some of the roads, around me issues relating to flooding are back. This is a useful time to repeat the guide to flooding issues that I have printed several times before….
GOOD COSTS SERVICE: UPDATED GUIDANCE FROM THE LEGAL OMBUDSMAN
Solicitor and own client costs disputes have featured on this blog many times. There have been several major cases in recent months. The issue of the information given to the client and their understanding of how, and how much, they…
THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE HANDBOOK FOR LITIGANTS IN PERSON: A REMINDER OF THE FOUR GOLDEN RULES FOR DRAFTING WITNESS STATEMENTS
It is ten years since the publication of the Handbook for Litigants in Person. It can be found here. I wrote about it, briefly, when it was first published. Although there have been some procedural changes since the section on…
TODAY’S THE DAY: KEY POSTS AND ARTICLES ON FIXED COSTS
I suspect that this blog will be writing about fixed costs for some time to come. To mark (I won’t say “celebrate”) the start of the new regime I have done a round up previous posts, useful lectures and webinars…
COURTS THAT ARE (OR MAY BE) CLOSED ON THE 25th, 27th AND 29th SEPTEMBER 2023
The weekly HMCTS update reports that a number of courts are closed due to industrial action. The update lists those courts that were closed last Friday. Presumably there is a strong probability that the same courts will be closed on…
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT JUDICIAL REVIEW GUIDE 2023: NOW AVAILABLE
The latest Administrative Court Judicial Review Guide is available on the link here. It may well be ahead of time (it is dated October 2023). THE CONTENTS It includes guidance on: litigants in person civil restraint orders starting a claim…
LAWYERS: LOOKING AFTER OURSELVES SO WE CAN LOOK AFTER OTHERS: A SERIES OF POSTS THAT MAY HELP
Earlier today there was a post on Twitter asking how, lawyers being human after all, they deal with the emotional fall out that is a part of many people’s workload. This is an opportune time to reprise a series of…
NEW EDITION OF THE SENIOR COURT COSTS OFFICE GUIDE (2023)
The latest edition of the Senior Court Costs Office Guide is now available here. As ever the Guide contains a detailed and comprehensive guide to all the procedural (and some substantive) issues THE INTRODUCTION “The Senior Courts Costs Office (SCCO)…
FOUR INTERESTING POSTS ON EXPERTS: HOW TO CROSS-EXAMINE, HOW TO INSTRUCT, DON’T BE LATE AND – WHATEVER YOU DO – DON’T DO THIS
Expert evidence has been a regular feature on this blog. Here we are looking at four posts from June 2014 which give rise to issues that resonate today. Advice on cross-examining experts, consideration of instructing experts, an attempt to introduce…
ON THIS BLOG NINE YEARS AGO: WITNESS STATEMENTS, WITNESS CREDIBILITY AND WITNESS SUMMARIES
Continuing with the series looking a posts from this blog from the past, here we look at posts from June 2014. This was an interesting month, the blog set out all the arguments that took place in the Denton decision. There…
A REPEAT: WHAT TO DO WHEN THINGS GO WRONG IN LITIGATION (BECAUSE ONE DAY THEY WILL…)
Last week I tweeted a link to a blog post that was written in 2019. It led to a lot of interest, some people stating that the issues involved stretched far beyond the legal profession (including pastors). The original post…
RULE CHANGES ON THE 1ST OCTOBER 2023: FIXED RECOVERABLE COSTS AND ALL THAT: LOOKING AHEAD – A QUICK GLANCE AT THE PRIMARY SOURCES
The rules introducing the “Intermediate Track” for cases between £25,000 and £100,000 are now published, they come into force on the 1st October 2023. There are links to the source material below. A more detailed guide to the changes will…
UPDATES ON PART 36: YOU’VE READ THE BLOG – NOW SEE THE MOVIES…
The update I gave on May 3 2023 for Kings Chambers Costs and Litigation Funding Team on Part 36 is now available on YouTube on this link THE WEBINAR The webinar goes through the significant cases on Part 36…
THE KING’S BENCH DIVISION GUIDE: THE NEW BITS (2): NAVIGATING THE PDF (OR NOT QUITE PRACTISING WHAT IS BEING PREACHED…))
One interesting thing about the new King’s Bench Division Guide is the anomaly that the page numbers it refers to in the index are not the page numbers on the PDF copy. Basically you have to add 12 to the…
BECOMING A BARRISTER: WATCH THE FILM AND SEE SOME WONDERFUL AND INSPIRING PEOPLE
I am grateful for the wonderful administrator on the North Eastern Circuit for giving me permission to copy the material they sent out today in relation to the Lincoln’s Inn film on becoming a barrister. It features interviews from practising…
THE EXTENSION OF FIXED COSTS: USEFUL LINKS AND GUIDES
The extension of fixed costs is a major topic. I will write about the practical implications when we are nearer to the implementation date. In the interim there are some useful links and guides. THE RULES The new rules…
ISSUING IN HASTE BEFORE APRIL 6th: DO NOT REPENT AT LEISURE WITH SERVICE ISSUES IN FOUR MONTHS’ TIME
I have been told that there has been a flurry of activity this week with claimants anxious to issue proceedings before the change in the rules relating to QOCS. One problem with this is that there will now be numerous…
UPDATED VERSION OF THE DENTON RESOURCE: “A BUMPER CROP OF PROCEDURAL ERRORS”
The Sanctions Case Watch section of this blog has, for many years, included a link to the Denton Resource. A new edition of the Resource was published on the 7th February 2023 and it can be found here. THE DENTON…
COST BITES 50: USEFUL LINKS ON COSTS FROM KINGS CHAMBERS: TAKE YOUR PICK…
There are a large number of helpful links on Kings Chambers’ Resource page. Here I link specifically to those relating to costs. Firstly the newsletters and articles and secondly the regular series of webinars. NEWSLETTERS Costs Litigation Newsletter:…
REPEAT SERIES OF WHAT THEY DON’T TEACH YOU AT LAW SCHOOL II: “80% OF VALUE COMES FROM 20% OF ACTIVITIES”
This “repeat” looks at the second in the series “What they don’t teach you at School”, it based on one article by Susan Carter Liebel 9 Things I wish they’d taught me at Law School. “9 THINGS I (REALLY,…
WHAT THEY DON’T TEACH YOU IN LAW SCHOOL: A REPRISE : EARLY MORNING STARTS AND LEGAL CHEEK STARTED A SERIES
Back in the dim and distant days of 2017 I wrote a series “What they don’t teach you at law school”. The series also got a lot of input from other lawyers. This seems a good time to reprise the…
THE COURTS IN AN ERA OF AUSTERITY: BROKEN LIFTS AND BROKEN PROMISES
It would be a pity if the speech of Sir James Munby THE FAMILY COURT IN AN ERA OF AUSTERITY: PROBLEMS AND PRIORITIES is only read by family lawyers. There is much of interest to all litigators. It was a…
You must be logged in to post a comment.