header-logo header-logo

The Jackson reforms: winners & losers

12 August 2011 / Dominic Regan
Issue: 7478 / Categories: Opinion , Costs
printer mail-detail

Dominic Regan sifts through the Jackson winners & losers

“Inevitably, there will be winners and losers as a result of my proposals” declared Lord Justice Jackson on that bitter January morning last year when he introduced his radical proposals for reform. Intriguingly, some perceived “winners” are looking like losers. Who and why so?

Clause 43

Before we delve into this there is one out and out loser and that is the after the event (ATE) insurance market. Clause 43 of the Legal Aid Bill precludes the recovery of such premiums (except where cover is taken out in clinical negligence cases in respect of expert fees).

The planned extension of the existing portal claims scheme will remove vast tranches of work from the land of risk. The present road traffic accident portal is risk free in the opening stages. Only a tiny minority of cases enter stage 3 where there is the possibility of an adverse costs outcome.

One-way costs shifting

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

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
back-to-top-scroll