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09 June 2016 / Gurvir Birang
Issue: 7702 / Categories: Features , Costs
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IPs take a hit

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Finally, a level playing field in insolvency, says Gurvir Birang​

On 6 April 2016, insolvency law was brought into line with other areas of commercial and civil litigation. Its exemption from the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO), ss 44 and 46 was finally removed. This means that successful claimants who enter into a conditional fee agreement (CFA) can no longer recover success fees or after-the-event (ATE) insurance from the losing party.

Those of us who defend bankruptcy claims welcome this news, which ensures that the Jackson reform’s aims of rebalancing costs and discouraging unnecessary court cases apply evenly across all areas of civil litigation.

Concern over insolvency practitioners’ (IPs’) fees has been raised for some time. In a report to the Insolvency Service in 2013, Elaine Kempson highlighted that concerns continue to be raised over the remuneration of IPs (Review of Insolvency Practitioner Fees; Report to the Insolvency Service). In 2015 the Insolvency (Amendment) Rules came into force, stating that

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