Costs Law & Practice: Shaping New Developments into Solution-Focused Answers for your Clients

Programme

1. Chair's Introduction

   Costs litigation: Shaping new developments into solution-focused answers for your clients

   Chaired by Master Colin Campbell

   Colin sits as a Deputy Costs Judge at the SCCO. He sat as a Costs Judge from 1996 to 2015 and served as a costs officer of the UKSC and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

2. Budgeting

   How do you gear up for the CJC's reshaping of costs budgeting, including lighter touch budgeting, judges taking a more broad brush approach, uncoupling directions and costs, etc.?

   Answered by Master Jason Rowley

   Jason is a Costs Judge at the Senior Courts Costs Office. He is co-author of 'Cook on Costs.'

3. Fixed Costs

   How do you manage and mitigate uncertainties in the new fixed costs regime, including what puts a claim in each band, the retrospective effect on existing non-issued claims, the impact of directions orders?

   Answered by David Marshall of Anthony Gold

   David is Chair of the Law Society’s Civil Justice Committee and a member of the CJC's Costs & Funding sub-committee. He advised Jackson LJ on his Review of Fixed Recoverable Costs.

4. Guideline Hourly Rates

   Given the sea change in judicial attitude, what amounts to a "clear and compelling justification" for surpassing guideline hourly rates and which arguments will give your clients an edge in disputes?

   Answered by Alex Hutton KC

   Alex has a "phenomenal command of costs law and matches it with the sharpest intellect around." He chaired the Hutton Committee on the E-Bill and acted in Barts Health v Salmon.

5. Part 36 Offers

   How far can you push the Court over Part 36 offers and the associated consequences for costs, e.g. 90/10 offers, adequate reasons, suspension of interest, out of time offers?

   Answered by Roger Mallalieu KC

   Roger is “quite simply, the go-to silk for costs litigation.” He acted in the Doyle v M&D Foundation litigation and is co-author of the White Book supplement on Costs and Funding.

6. Just for Show Mediation

   How do you control - and overcome - the difficulties of 'just for show' participants in mediation, those who aim to avoid costs consequences but not compromise or settle?

   Answered by George McDonald of 4 New Square

   George is "an absolute superstar – highly commercial and technically superb." He has been instructed in some of the seminal costs cases, including in the Supreme Court and Privy Council assessments.

7. Solicitor-Own Client

   What are the implications of recent post-Belsner decisions on solicitor-own client disputes over large legal spend? Who is benefitting, and what new and unresolved legal risks do you face?

   Answered by PJ Kirby KC

   PJ is “incredibly clued up, owns the room, takes control and provides comfort and confidence to the client." He acted in the hotly contested Belsner v Cam Legal Services.

8. Non-Party Costs Orders

   In light of recent key cases, what is the latest judicial thinking on non-party costs orders, in particular, what is deemed 'fair and just in all the circumstances', and how do you advise clients effectively?

   Answered by Vikram Sachdeva KC

   Vikram has a “brilliantly strategic mind", is “commercially astute” and “spots points no one else can at an early stage, turning a case to your client’s advantage.” He sits as a Deputy High Court Judge.