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Costs, experts, myths & legends: a sequel

30 January 2020 / David Locke
Issue: 7872 / Categories: Features , Personal injury , Costs
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The argument about legal costs in clinical negligence & personal injury litigation shows no sign of abating, says David Locke

  • Going round in circles: legal costs arguments.
  • Back to the future: retreating to the days of the Review of Civil Litigation Costs.
  • The role of experts: an adversarial approach.
  • Potential solutions: early disclosure of evidence and joint experts?

The argument about legal costs in clinical negligence (and personal injury) litigation cycles back around in ever decreasing circles, depressingly without any real nuance in the arguments at each repetition. Although it has been sadly overlooked in recent days, things are changing. However, in the face of lurid headlines and eye-watering figures, there is an apparently irresistible urge to retreat to the trenches that were dug during the Review of Civil Litigation Costs, and indeed even before that.

Slay the tropes

In response to concerns about claimant solicitor fees, the most often repeated trope (heard many times recently) is that medical defence organisations,

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Serious injury teambolstered by high-profile partner hire

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

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Firm strengthens employment team with partner hire

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

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Lawyers’ liability practice strengthened with partner appointment in London

NEWS
Commercial leasehold, the defence of insanity and ‘consent’ in the criminal law are among the next tranche of projects for the Law Commission
Tech companies will be legally required to prevent material that encourages or assists serious self-harm appearing on their platforms, under Online Safety Act 2023 regulations due to come into force in the autumn
The Bar has a culture of ‘impunity’ and ‘collusive bystanding’ in which making a complaint is deemed career-ending due to a ‘cohort of untouchables’ at the top, Baroness Harriet Harman KC has found
Lawyers have broadly welcomed plans to electronically tag up to 22,000 more offenders, scrap most prison terms below a year and make prisoners ‘earn’ early release
The ex-wife of a Russian billionaire has won her bid to bring her financial relief claim in London, in a unanimous Court of Appeal decision
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