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THIRD PARTY FUNDING: SAVIOUR OF THE LAW?
Third Party Funding is likely to play a vitally important role in litigation now that Jackson is in and the abolition of recoverability of success fees and after-the-event insurance premiums has taken...
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PERSONAL INJURY – A MODEST PROPOSAL
Put the small claims limit in personal injury matters up to £25,000 for matters resolved in the portals but reduce it to zero for all other matters, that is cases that never enter the portal and those...
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IMPACT ASSESSMENTS: 1984 AND ALL THAT
I would not normally bother dealing with an impact assessment as they are a waste of time and money and no Government has ever let one deflect it from what it wants to do. However the one attached to...
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SILVER SERVICE LAW
Riding the storm Maybe the storm has been ridden. There are apparently some 200 Alternative Business Structures, but they are having almost zero impact on the legal market. The well-publicized...
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THE QUEEN TO BE SOLD!
Vince Rat has announced that the Queen is to be privatised. Rat said: “Now that we have sold the Mail, let us sell the Royal.” Dismissing suggestions that the main purchasers of Royal Mail shares were...
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DBAs AND COSTS BUDGETING: CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER
Originally posted on Kerry Underwood: The Civil Procedure Rules dealing with costs management and costs budgeting are entirely silent on the interplay with Damages-Based Agreements (DBAs). I simply...
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A TRAIN JOURNEY
Customers are reminded that if they do not have a ticket to Manchester they cannot travel to Manchester. Customers are reminded that even if they do have a ticket to Manchester there is an excellent...
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POOR LAW
“Let’s get one thing straight” says Tommy Tozzer, “‘Poor Law’ is not about helping poor people; it is about doing law badly. We wanted to call our ABS “Crap Legal Services” but apparently there is...
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TOYNBEE HALL
Last night Toynbee Hall celebrated 115 years of giving free legal advice. Here is a piece that I wrote for Solicitors Journal in 2006. It is as relevant today as it was then: “Toynbee work In...
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SIGNATURE REQUIREMENTS RE CFAS DBAS AND CONTINGENCY FEE AGREEMENTS
Here I consider which, if any, of the following types of agreement require signature, and if so, whether an electronic signature is valid: Conditional Fee Agreements Damages-Based Agreements....
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LITIGANTS IN PERSON: ACTING IN CASES INVOLVING THEM
The courts are experiencing a very significant increase in the number of Litigants in Person following the sharp increase in legal fees to be paid by individuals as a result of the Jackson reforms, and...
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RETIRING EARLY
Droning On dropped in at The Bus Pass Arms and caught up with Reg Geranium, 49, early retired assistant manager of the Electricity Pylons Aesthetics Council. Reg described a typical day: “I get up...
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GAGA LAW
GAGA LAW – slogan – The More They Dribble The Less They Quibble – has spotted a gap in the legal market and is seeking to exploit this by becoming an ABS. The gap is for those lacking capacity or...
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GUIDELINE HOURLY RATES
Guideline Hourly Rates Survey 2013 The Civil Justice Council Costs Committee is conducting a survey (Guideline Hourly Rates Survey 2013) of solicitors concerning Guideline Hourly Rates and the...
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LIES, DAMNED LIES AND THE SMALL CLAIMS LIMIT
In October 2013 the Government announced that there would be no increase in the personal injury Small Claims limit “at this stage”. However this should be regarded as a stay of execution rather than a...
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FACTORY LAW FIRMS: END OF THE ROAD?
In Procter v Raleys Solicitors, Leeds County Court, 6 November 2013 HH Judge Gosnell held that the defendant firm of solicitors had been negligent in under-settling a claim after it failed to have a...
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PROPORTIONALITY AND JACKSON: THINGS FALL APART
In Vitol Bahrain EC v Nasdec General Trading LLC and Others [2013] All ER (D) 38 (Nov) 5 November 2013 the Commercial Court, part of the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court, considered the issue...
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NELSON MANDELA
Yesterday, after Nelson Mandela’s funeral, I went to Victor Verster Prison from where he was released in February 1990. The flowers and messages, including a banner from the Department of Correctional...
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WHIPLASH CLAIMS
WHIPLASH CLAIMS On 16 January 2014 the Ministry of Justice announced that a working group would be set up in February 2014 to begin the process of creating medical panels to assess whiplash injury...
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MY DAD
My Dad died two years ago today, Christmas Eve 2011. He was 96 and died in his sleep and had been in good physical health and perfect mental health until a week earlier. Dad fought in the Second World...
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