header-logo header-logo

All Change

03 January 2008 / Virginia Rylatt
Issue: 7302 / Categories: Features , Legal services , Procedure & practice , Profession
printer mail-detail

MasterCigars has ushered in a new costs regime. Virginia Rylatt explains why

In MasterCigars Direct Ltd v Withers LLP [2007] EWHC 2733 (Ch), [2007] All ER (D) 385 (Nov) Mr Justice Morgan found for Withers in a landmark case that reassesses the effect of estimates, caps, margins and the Solicitors’ Costs Information and Client Care Code 1999. Given its importance, a full explanation of the facts of the case is given below.

On 6 May 2005, Withers wrote to MasterCigars Direct Ltd (MCD) giving an estimate of costs from 6 May 2005 to the end of the anticipated four-day trial which was due to start on 7 July 2005. The letter explained that:

 

“Although the figures are becoming relatively fearsome, it has to be said that the potential fees that might be added by bringing in Geoffrey Hobbs [barrister and QC at

One Essex Court
] are a heavy burden. However, they are guesstimates only in that we cannot ask his clerk for an estimate
If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
back-to-top-scroll