The Guideline Hourly Rates changed on 1st January 2026. These are set out below. The 2025 and 2024 rates can be found underneath. Guideline hourly rates 2026 (with previous year’s rates in brackets) Grade Fee Earner London 1 London 2…
This section looks at decisions in relation to relief from sanctions and the general principles of CPR 3.9. Often there are links to the decisions themselves, together with links to posts on this blog. CASES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER 2026 February…
Recent cases have shown that the issues relating to to deducting costs from the client’s damages remain controversial and highly contested. This webinar examines the regulatory framework and case law governing the deduction of legal costs from a client’s damages…
The previous post on costs and mediation led to me to look at the initial judgment on liability. This is because the court considered an argument that the situation with the claimant’s expert was so poor as to warrant indemnity…
Here we have a case where a claimant who lost a case at trial (and turned down an offer of £200,000) argued that there should be no order for costs. That argument did not take it very far… “The Defendant’s…
Here we have an unusual argument from the claimants. The judge, whilst issuing a warning that the claimants had to refer back to their pleaded case, allowed the claimants some latitude in cross-examination. This led the claimants to argue that…
In civil proceedings witnesses are commonly present throughout an entire action. On occasions a request is made that witnesses be excluded. There is little authority for the proposition that a court can exclude witnesses or guidance as to how the…
It is not that common for a judge to comment that a claim has been brought in an “unfocused manner”. It is even less common in a case where the case is heavily “lawyered”. We have an example here. The…
A post yesterday highlighted both the significance of a claim for loss of earnings for a child claimant, but also the difficulty. In that case the award for disability in the labour market of £50,000 was higher than the award…
Here we have a case where an important time limit was, on the face of it missed, because the court itself “thwarted” genuine attempts to lodge an appeal in time. It is an object lesson the care that needs to…
Here we look at at post from twelve years ago concerning judicial protestations about opinion evidence in witness statements. Despite all the warnings have occurred since, and the advent of PD57AC, this remains a regular (and improper) occurrence. We looked…
Assessing claims for loss of earnings for children is always difficult. The importance of this has become, if anything, more acute given the Supreme Court decision in CCC (by her mother and litigation friend MMM) (Appellant) v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals…
We have seen many cases where the courts have been critical of a party’s failure to comply with the duties of full and frank disclosure when obtaining an order without notice. However here we have a case where the judge…
Last week we saw a case where, on a summary assessment, costs were reduced from £2.6 million to £750,000 on a summary assessment. Clearly not all assessments are going to involve these amounts, however the case highlights that these can…
The Revised Law Society Guidance on Mazur was looked at in a previous post. Whilst we wait for the SRA Guidance it may be useful to look at the key differences in the Law Society Guidance before and after the…
I am grateful to my colleague Steven Turner for sending me a copy of this interesting decision which relates to Part 36, fixed costs and applications to “re-band” a case. The case may be unusual in that an application for…
Here we have a case where the claimant lost a lot of money ($715 million) in a short amount of time (two years) but failed in its attempt to show that this was due to the fault of the defendants….
This case illustrates the need for allegations to be pleaded, particularly in relation to assertions of fraud. It took 38 days of court time and concerned a loss of US $715 million. Still the judge was concerned that allegations were…
Last month I wrote about the Practice Note in relation to Summary Assessments that take place in the Rolls Building from the 14th April 2026. That Practice Note was superseded by a further Practice Note issued yesterday. (In other words…
The fundamental question for a reviewer of a legal text is – is this book worthwhile? Here there is only one answer. A book of considerable importance, assistance and utility is a “must buy”. HOW DO I SUMMARISE THIS? Sir…
The Business and Property Courts – The Commercial Court Report 2024-2025 makes interesting reading. It notes that PD57AC came into force some five years ago. It still shows the need to emphasise that the Practice Direction needs to be complied…
This case serves as a reminder that, if a debt is to be disputed, then the evidence in support of the denial has to be particularised and credible. Here the respondents faced a debt of £920,000. There was an attempt…
We are just looking at a few lines from a judgment we looked at earlier this morning. They contain a reminder that documents in an agreed bundle are admissible as evidence at the hearing. However this does not mean that…
One remarkable aspect of the Mazur decision is that in a very real sense it is the losers of the case who get to decide what goes on going forward. The Court of Appeal rejected the submissions of the Law Society…
We have, for many years now, been looking at the way in which the courts consider the admissibility of reports prepared for related purposes. We have that issue considered in this case. A report was obtained in relation to allegations…
This is an interesting judgement on two levels. Firstly the judge did not accept the defendant’s contention that there had been an agreement to extend time for service of Points of Dispute to a bill of costs. Secondly, applying the…
One underlying irony about the Mazur debacle is that most of the problems arise because of a mistake as to costs. The Circuit Judge ordered Ms. Mazur and Mr Stuart £10,653 when, in fact, the costs should only have been £636.00. …
This judgment highlights the need for a solicitor to keep the client fully informed of the costs incurred. The judge observed that the SRA Code of Conduct imposed a positive duty on a solicitor to give the client the best…
There have been a large number of posts recently relating to solicitor and own costs assessments. Many of these cases have related to the issue of whether bills delivered were “statute” bills “interim statute bills” or simply interim bills. The…
Drafting a Schedule of Damages is not simply a mathematical calculation. It requires legal knowledge, careful analysis, attention to evidence, and practical judgement. Courts frequently criticise poorly prepared schedules, particularly where figures are unsupported, exaggerated, or inconsistent with the evidence….
In this case a wasted costs order was made against a firm of solicitors for breach of warranty of authority. The stated to the defendant and the court, and believed, that they were instructed by the claimant’s insurers when, in…
Last month we looked at a case where a series of interim bills were found to be statutory bills. Today we look at a case where the court came to the opposite conclusion. This has important practical consequences in that…
If you could not attend the webinar on the practical implications of the Court of Appeal decision in Mazur yesterday it is now available “on demand”. The Mazur decision confirms that authorised individuals may delegate tasks within the conduct of…
The issue of adjournments being sought because of the ill-health of a party or witness (and in one case Leading Counsel) is always a concern. Sometimes these applications are made late, on the morning of the trial itself, and the…
Here was have a successful application for alternative service on the defendant’s legal representatives. It shows that in some circumstances the courts are willing to make such orders, particularly when the defendant is based abroad and there are potential issues…
For many years now we have been looking at the interaction between an application to set aside a default judgment and the “Denton” criteria. Here we look at another case where the court considered relief from sanctions in this context. …
Here we consider some unusual grounds of appeal. An unsuccessful claimant appealed on the grounds, inter alia, that the judge had erred in giving leeway to the defendant who was a litigant in person. What is important here is that…
We are continuing with our examination of a case we looked at yesterday. The court found that the agreement between the parties was not a Contentious Business Agreement. However the judge also stated that it it had been a CBA…
In this case the court considered whether a solicitor’s letter of engagement amounted to the creation of a Contentious Business Agreement. It was held that there was too much uncertainty for this to be a CBA. The failure to set…
For many years now we have been looking in detail at summary assessments. On occasion the sums involved, and the reductions that take place, can be considerable. We have such a case here. An initial schedule of £2.6 million (excluding…
We are continuing with the practice of looking at what actually happens in summary assessments. These are rarely looked at in detail elsewhere. This case is also interesting in that, although the respondents adopted a “neutral” approach to the application…
I cannot recall many cases that deal with the issue of “co-counselling”, that is allowing more than one firm of solicitors to act for a group of claimants in one action. That is the issue considered here. The court allowed…
It is often the case that the most difficult cases are those that depend almost wholly on witness recollection. This is made far more difficult in a case such as a motor accident where the incident happened in a matter…
The webinar on Thursday provides a wealth of material in relation to compliance with the Court of Appeal guidance as to the conduct of litigation after the Court of Appeal decision in Mazur. In addition there is a series of…
Here we return to the case considered in the previous post. The judge refused to allow the claimant’s representative a right of audience in a Small Claims Track case. This was a Small Claims Track case, however the judge then…
I am grateful to Ritchie Young for sending me a copy of this judgment in which the District Judge refused to allow an unauthorised person a right of audience in a small claims track case. It is not technically part…
One key element of the Mazur decision, that needs repeating, is that it does not allow unauthorised persons to “conduct” litigation. It allows unauthorised people to assist and conduct the tasks involved in litigation so long as they are properly…
New rules came into force yesterday. The key changes have been reviewed in a series of posts on this site. To refresh your memory a summary of the posts are below. Changes have also been made to the rules in…
There are cases where those making applications make a tactical decision not to serve the application at once. They think, wrongly, that the rules only require three days notice to be given. This belief if wrong. As we shall see…
I have written several times that when it came to providing practical guidance on how to deal with the Mazur judgment it was often insurers that were far more helpful than the regulators. It is worthwhile having a look at…
This webinar examines the crucial role of the fee earner in maximising the recovery of legal costs. Many litigators have limited experience of detailed assessments and may be unaware of the challenges that can arise during the process. The session…
Here we have a case that extends the principles in Siniakovich v Hassan-Soudey. The Court of Appeal held that a statutory appeal was lodged within time, even though it was sent by email to the court and no fee was…
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