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12 December 2013 / Jason Rowley
Issue: 7588 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Costs
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Grappling with the cost

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Lawyers must get hands-on with costs, says Jason Rowley

 

This article looks at the continued attempts by courts to grapple with the cost of litigation prospectively and not simply at the end of the case. If costs and case management by the courts works as intended, it will render detailed assessments simpler and rarer than they are now. If on the other hand, the new arrangements are too unwieldy, are there other options that might be considered in due course?

 

I’m a lawyer, get me out of here

There is something almost visceral about the dislike engendered in most lawyers when asked to provide an indication of their fees that is a fixed sum or may become so. Why is that? In everyday life lawyers, like everyone else, expect the goods and services they buy to be priced in a clear and calculable, if not fixed way. But when it comes to their own fees,

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Haynes Boone—Jeremy Cross

Haynes Boone—Jeremy Cross

Firm strengthens global fund finance practice with London partner hire.

DWF—Stephen Webb

DWF—Stephen Webb

Partner and head of national planning team appointed

mfg Solicitors—Nick Little

mfg Solicitors—Nick Little

Corporate team expands in Birmingham with partner hire

NEWS
Contract damages are usually assessed at the date of breach—but not always. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Gascoigne, knowledge lawyer at LexisNexis, examines the growing body of cases where courts have allowed later events to reshape compensation
The Supreme Court has restored ‘doctrinal coherence’ to unfair prejudice litigation, writes Natalie Quinlivan, partner at Fieldfisher LLP, in this week' NLJ
The High Court’s refusal to recognise a prolific sperm donor as a child’s legal parent has highlighted the risks of informal conception arrangements, according to Liam Hurren, associate at Kingsley Napley, in NLJ this week
The Court of Appeal’s decision in Mazur may have settled questions around litigation supervision, but the profession should not simply ‘move on’, argues Jennifer Coupland, CEO of CILEX, in this week's NLJ
A simple phrase like ‘subject to references’ may not protect employers as much as they think. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, analyses recent employment cases showing how conditional job offers can still create binding contracts
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