Practitioners must take costs budgeting seriously, says Deirdre MacNamara
The new costs management regime imposed by Jackson has required immediate changes to be made to the way litigation is conducted for all practitioners.
Active involvement of courts
The court’s new powers lead to it being actively involved in the case from the outset. The parties are also required to be focused on costs at an early stage and engage with each other in an attempt to manage their cases, in view of the likely costs. The courts are now considering budgets in light of amended CPR 1.1, requiring cases to be dealt with “justly and at proportionate cost”.
Parties are expected to exchange detailed costs budgets early on. These budgets are open to scrutiny from the outset by both the court and any other party to the claim. It is likely that costs incurred in excess of agreed budgets may not be recovered on assessment, without good reason to justify the increase. It is, therefore, critical that practitioners who prepare these budgets
