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28 January 2022 / Professor Dominic Regan
Issue: 7964 / Categories: Opinion , Profession , Costs , Procedure & practice
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The insider: 28 January 2022

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Dominic Regan delves into deductions from damages & namechecks some particularly special specialists

The Court of Appeal has allocated a day and a half in the last week of February to hear the appeal in Belsner v Cam Legal Services Ltd [2020] EWHC 2755 (QB). The case revisits the issue of informed consent in the context of what a client will be liable to pay their own legal representative.

In Herbert v HH Law Ltd [2018] EWHC 580 (QB), the Court of Appeal held that a client merely agreeing to give up part of their damages to help fund the litigation was not good enough. Had she been given a clear explanation as to how that deduction was calculated, she would not have agreed to it. The absence of informed consent rendered the deduction excessive, and the client was to be reimbursed £349. One might sneer at such a trivial sum. The court ordered the solicitor to pay £30,000 on account of costs to those who had raised

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Bell Yard Kysen—Liz Giles

Bell Yard Kysen—Liz Giles

Bell Yard Kysen appoints senior legal PR and ex-government communications adviser, Liz Giles

Clarke Willmott—Lee Edwards

Clarke Willmott—Lee Edwards

Clarke Willmott boosts Southampton commercial property team with addition of partner Lee Edwards

Lime Solicitors—four promotions

Lime Solicitors—four promotions

Lime Solicitors announces four promotions

NEWS
The Attorney General, Ellie Reeves KC MP, and Solicitor General, Andy Slaughter KC MP, marked the 25th anniversary of Pro Bono Week by joining lawyers, charities, students and parliamentarians at events celebrating voluntary legal work
Witness evidence can be compromised by AI before a solicitor sees the draft, leaving safeguards focused on authorship incomplete
Possession claims are entering a new digital era, with procedural traps awaiting practitioners who assume familiar rules still govern every step
A polished legal defence may owe more to artificial intelligence than legal merit—and creditors risk paying the price in delay and expense
An indemnity costs battle with a £20m gap could reopen an important question: what weight should an approved budget carry?
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