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Money talks

19 September 2013 / Mark James
Issue: 7576 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Costs
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Elvanite provides an important lesson in costs budgeting, says Mark James

Costs budgeting has been with us for nearly six months now. Most practitioners still have little experience of filling in a Form H. What they all have is a fear that they might get it wrong and that, as a consequence, their winning client may not be able to recover reasonable and proportionate costs from the losing party; and, that their firm may be asked by the aggrieved client to make up the shortfall by writing off part or all of its fees. At the heart of this fear is uncertainty as to how much leeway the court will give a solicitor who has made a mistake in his budget. The mixed messages from the courts have not helped. Under the pre-April 2013 pilot schemes the courts talked tough but, when it came to it, the decisions were sympathetic to the erring party. Thus, in Henry v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2013] EWCA

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NEWS
In a very special tribute in this week's NLJ, David Burrows reflects on the retirement of Patrick Allen, co-founder of Hodge Jones & Allen, whose career epitomised the heyday of legal aid
Writing in NLJ this week, Kelvin Rutledge KC of Cornerstone Barristers and Genevieve Screeche-Powell of Field Court Chambers examine the Court of Appeal’s rejection of a discrimination challenge to Tower Hamlets’ housing database
Michael Zander KC, Emeritus Professor at LSE, tracks the turbulent passage of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill through the House of Lords in this week's issue of NLJ. Two marathon debates drew contributions from nearly 200 peers, split between support, opposition and conditional approval
Alistair Mills of Landmark Chambers reflects on the Human Rights Act 1998 a quarter-century after it came into force, in this week's issue of NLJ
In his latest Civil Way column for NLJ, Stephen Gold surveys a raft of procedural changes and quirky disputes shaping civil practice. His message is clear: civil practitioners must brace for continual tweaks, unexpected contentions and rising costs in everyday litigation
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