Community legal service funding—Costs out of community legal service fund—Jurisdiction

Queen’s Bench Division, Sharp J, 8 Apr 2011

Whether someone will suffer financial hardship if their costs are not reimbursed by the losing party is a question of fact and degree; there is no absolute standard by which that can be judged

Robert Marven (instructed by Legal & Governance Team, Legal Services Commission) for the LSC. Guy Mansfield QC (instructed by Kingsley Napley LLP (KN)) for the interveners.

The underlying proceedings concerned a claim for ancillary relief, in which it was argued by the applicant, P, that the respondent, R, was the true beneficial owner of a number of properties and shares. A number of family members intervened in the proceedings. The same firm of solicitors (KN) acted for all the interveners, but had a separate retainer from each. The applicant was publicly funded throughout the proceedings. R and the interveners were non-funded parties. In September 2006, KN wrote on behalf