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 May 2026…
We have looked many times at issues relating to non or mis-service of the claim form. Here we have a case where a solicitor’s evidence as to service was disbelieved by a Circuit Judge. The case shows many familiar mistakes…
This is a judgment about s.32 of the Limitation Act. In particular about the date of knowledge. The claimants were not successful. The judge held that they had the relevant knowledge more than six years prior to issue. It was…
It is not unknown for a client to wish to change solicitors part way through a case. Where the matter is being conducted on a conditional fee agreement this can lead to complex problems. We see this here. The key…
When this series started in March 2025 I suspected that there would be enough material for a few posts. There have now been 100. The cases have involved claims and defences, replies and counterclaims, personal injury, commercial disputes, professional negligence…
For post one hundred in this series it is perhaps fitting that we look at a Privy Council decision that shows, in categorical and clear terms, that a failure to plead essential points cannot be dismissed as a technicality. Here…
Here we have a case where the Court of Appeal upheld a decision to award pre-judgment interest on costs. Interest can be awarded even though the action is being conducted on a Conditional Fee Agreement. This is an important point…
This is a case about a late application for third party disclosure. The order was granted despite the trial date being imminent. The respondents complained of “opportunism” the judge observed that this may well be described as “creative lawyering”. “…litigation…
A few recent posts have been a (wholly subtle) attempt to promote the forthcoming webinar and book “The Paying Party’s Manual”. This is part of that well-disguised approach. We are looking at the wisdom in making an early and realistic…
This judgment given today highlights some dangers in sending “without prejudice” bills of costs at an early stage. The paying party can (understandably) be suspicious when a later bill comes at a lower figure. The reasons for this need not…
It is rare for a judicial review of a judicial decision to succeed. It succeeded here because the judge found that there was (among other things) a “frustration or corruption of the… judicial process”. Essentially it is a decision about…
A major theme of this series has been a failure by litigants to put evidence before the court to establish their case. That is a feature of this case. The defendant company was arguing that its own financial position was…
Today we go back to a post in October 2019. It was part of a series of posts about “staying sane as a litigator”. This was the fifth in the series and makes the point that things go wrong in…
It is not often we get to consider the issue of costs and cattle. Here the issue is considered in relation to costs limits imposed by the Aarhus Cap and delay by the defendants in challenging the application of the…
We have looked many times on this blog at cases where litigants have simply failed to prove things. There have been numerous occasions when this relates to a failure to prove damages. This webinar looks at how litigators can avoid…
Here we have an unusual disagreement about how an order for costs should be phrased. The judge made it clear that the order should make it clear that it was not just covering advocacy. “I prefer the Bourlakovas’ formulation. It…
WHAT HAS CIVIL LITIGATION BRIEF DONE ABOUT… INTERIM ORDERS FOR COSTS: 10 KEY POINTS AND USEFUL LINKS
We have looked at the issue of interim costs twice over the past few days. It is an important element of litigation. An order for costs does not put money in the receiving party’s bank account. Detailed assessment may take…
We are returning to the case we looked at yesterday. Having determined that it was appropriate for the court to order the applicants to pay the respondents’ costs of the application the judge then considered the question of the amount…
This case emphasises the importance of the “pay as you go” principle in civil litigation. The applicants had failed at an interlocutory application. They were equally unsuccessful in their attempts to persuade the judge that they should not pay the…
This is far from the first time that we have looked at cases that have shown how a bare denial in a pleading is inadequate. Here Chief Master Shuman emphasised the real danger of pleading a bare denial. The defence…
Here we look at another case where witness evidence was found wanting. Again this is because of a failure to identify the source of information or belief. This was coupled with the fact that crucial witnesses who could give first…
There have been numerous cases over the years which highlight the dangers of first hand evidence not being made available to the court. It is often the case that statements are provided by those who have no first hand knowledge…
Here we have an interesting decision on whether a dispute about a settlement agreement in a housing disrepair case should be allocated to the Small Claims Track. I am grateful to Steve Cornforth for sending me a copy of this…
This is the third case of the day about delay. Here there was a delay of eleven months in serving an order on named defendants. The judge found it unsatisfactory that the claimant council had not served the order in…
The previous post mentioned that a theme of today is the importance of complying with rules and directions. This case demonstrates that point clearly. The appellant was one day out in compliance and still no extension of time was given….
If there is a theme for today it is the importance of compliance with rules and directions. Here we have very strong criticism of the defendant Secretary of State (more accurately his legal team). The judge observed that the defendant’s…
The use of Artificial Intelligence by the legal profession is now a fact of life. The genie will not go back into that particular bottle. However, as we have seen many times on this blog, it can lead to profound…
A great deal of the claimant lawyer’s time is spent considering and building a case on damages. However it is sensible for the lawyer to stop and think how realistic the claim for damages is. One of the best means…
This posts looks at the lawyer’s role immediately after the court has made an order that your client must pay the other side’s costs. The client may be disappointed, angry or astonished at the result. There may be a strong…
This is a case that demonstrates the importance of disclosure and the dangers of failing to preserve, or positively destroying, documentary evidence in a civil case. The judge found the (first) defendant’s conduct in that regard was extremely telling. Much…
Here we have a case where the defendants, in a skeleton argument for trial, argued that the claimants could not succeed because they had to expert evidence to support their case for breach of duty. That submission was roundly rejected…
We are going back eight years and looking at another highly familiar theme – non-compliant witness statements. We have another example earlier today in the blog. . We are looking at a post from October 2018. This post pre-dated PD…
I have today received a copy of the second edition of Andrew Hogan’s book on AI for Lawyers (a review of which will be appearing soon). Problems with the use of AI continue to blight the profession (at home and…
Here we have a case where the claimant failed to prove its case seeking approximately US$9.6 million.” even when one of the defendants was debarred from defending. Relying on signed statements of case, inferential evidence from witness statements and comments…
A blog about civil procedure has to have balance. The previous post considered applications to amend from the applicant’s perspective. Here we consider the position of those opposing an application. Litigators are as likely to be opposing an application as…
There are some cases that have the flavour of a legal question posed by a law lecturer who is anxious to stretch their students to the limit. This is one of those cases, involving (alleged) abuse of process, separate corporate…
The posts earlier this morning highlighted the major obstacles facing a litigant who wants to amend their pleadings at a very late stage. This is a good time to look at previous posts on amendments, together with links to the…
We have already look at this case in relation to the claimant’s application for relief from sanctions. The claimant was granted relief in relation to late service of the proposed amendments. However that did not, in fact, get the claimant…
This is a case we are looking at in two parts. Firstly we are looking at the claimant’s application for relief from sanctions when it served amended Particulars of Claim outside the time period ordered by the court. A second…
HM Courts and Tribunal Service have prepared an updated list of forms to be used in the Business and Property Courts. The forms are now in one useful place. THE UPDATED COLLECTION The updated collection can be found here. THE…
The post earlier this morning where the Upper Tribunal considered the problems with very authentic looking documents being produced by Artificial Intelligence is illustrative of a very real problem for civil practitioners. The judgment contains a timely reminder that documents…
Much of the discussion in relation to Artificial Intelligence to date has related to its ability to “hallucinate” false cases. However it can also be used to create extremely realistic false documents. This is an issue considered by the judges…
What steps should be taken if a witness has identified an error in their witness statement? Does it matter if that is an error of fact in relation to the matters described or a significant omission? Here we review the…
We have recently been looking at a few cases that have made the headlines. However we examine them from a particular CLB point of view – that is are there any practical lessons for working litigators? There are some interesting…
It is wise for a party that is likely to be on the losing side of a case to make a Part 36 offer. A court is unlikely to have much sympathy for a litigant that has failed to protect…
This post is (obviously) the mirror image to the earlier post on applying to rely on expert evidence. Here we look at guidance for those opposing an application to rely on expert evidence. Again there are links to posts that…
There are cases where a party has to prove dishonesty. This can be a difficult task, as this case shows. The test is very different to negligence or recklessness. The failure to address this test fully led to the overturning…
A post yesterday dealt with an unsuccessful application to rely on expert evidence. This is an opportune moment to review the steps that a party seeking to rely on expert evidence should take. In the interest of balance a later…
There are certain cases that litigators should keep in their cabinets to show to clients who are overkeen to litigate. This is one of them. The parties were arguing over a boundary line, with one of the issues being whether…
We are looking at a case where the tribunal considered whether a party should be granted permission to rely on expert evidence. The judge went back to first principles to consider the issue. It was a high value case with…
The rules allow the parties to disclose the existence of a Part 36 offer after a split trial. However the judge cannot be told the “terms” of the offer. Here the court considered the interesting (and important) issue of whether…
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