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17 May 2012
Issue: 7514 / Categories: Case law , Law reports , In Court
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Solicitor—Costs—Bill of costs

Minkin v Cawdery Kaye Fireman & Taylor [2012] EWCA Civ 546, [2012] All ER (D) 35 (May)

 

Court of Appeal, Civil Division, Ward, Stanley Burnton and Elias LJJ, 1 May 2012

On the facts of the instant case, the client’s termination of the retainer absolved the solicitor from any further performance of the contract but it did not absolve the client from the payment of the costs properly incurred to that date.

Nicholas Bacon QC and Mark James (instructed by Routh Clarke, Leighton Buzzard) for the client. Bernard Livesey QC and Joshua Munro (instructed by Cawdery Kaye Fireman & Taylor) for the firm.

In June 2011, the claimant client provided instructions to the defendant law firm to act for him in divorce proceedings. The client’s wife had brought proceedings in the county court for a non-molestation injunction and an ouster order to exclude him from the former matrimonial home. The client was provided with a costs estimate in the amount of £3,500 plus VAT but was advised that costs estimates
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The Supreme Court has delivered a decisive ruling on termination under the JCT Design & Build form. Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Singer KC and Jonathan Ward, of Kings Chambers, analyse Providence Building Services v Hexagon Housing Association [2026] UKSC 1, which restores the first-instance decision and curbs contractors’ termination rights for repeated late payment
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Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
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