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13 January 2023
Issue: 8008 / Categories: Legal News , Costs , Procedure & practice
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NLJ this week: Costs, budget, estimate…important distinctions for prudent litigators

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Solicitors do not always understand the difference between an estimate and a budget, but it’s an important distinction, writes Jack Ridgway, chair of the Association of Costs Lawyers, in this week’s NLJ.

Ridgway, a senior costs lawyer at Bolt Burdon Kemp, explains the difference and its importance. Moreover, ‘costs can be reasonable but disproportionate’. He writes: ‘Unfortunately, when the court chose to replace costs estimates with budgets, they deprived the solicitor of the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, instead creating two distinct stones.’

His article, available here, is clear and easy to understand and will be helpful for all litigators tasked with setting budgets.
Issue: 8008 / Categories: Legal News , Costs , Procedure & practice
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Thackray Williams—Lucy Zhu

Thackray Williams—Lucy Zhu

Dual-qualified partner joins as head of commercial property department

Morgan Lewis—David A. McManus

Morgan Lewis—David A. McManus

Firm announces appointment of next chair

Burges Salmon—Rebecca Wilsker

Burges Salmon—Rebecca Wilsker

Director joins corporate team from the US

NEWS
What safeguards apply when trust corporations are appointed as deputy by the Court of Protection? 
Disputing parties are expected to take part in alternative dispute resolution (ADR), where this is suitable for their case. At what point, however, does refusing to participate cross the threshold of ‘unreasonable’ and attract adverse costs consequences?
When it comes to free legal advice, demand massively outweighs supply. 'Millions of people are excluded from access to justice as they don’t have anywhere to turn for free advice—or don’t know that they can ask for help,' Bhavini Bhatt, development director at the Access to Justice Foundation, writes in this week's NLJ
When an ex-couple is deciding who gets what in the divorce or civil partnership dissolution, when is it appropriate for a third party to intervene? David Burrows, NLJ columnist and solicitor advocate, considers this thorny issue in this week’s NLJ
NLJ's latest Charities Appeals Supplement has been published in this week’s issue
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