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…