By Monidipa Fouzder2021-05-13T09:52:00+01:00
The Ministry of Justice has been urged not to bring court-assessed civil legal aid bills in-house amid impartiality and transparency concerns as well as the impact on an already-dwindling supplier base.
Robert Buckland’s department has been consulting on transferring the assessment of most civil and family legal aid costs bills from the courts to the Legal Aid Agency.
The Law Society said its members had serious concerns about the agency’s assessment process. ‘First and foremost is the concern about lack of impartiality when the assessor is also the paying party, unlike the courts which have no financial interest in the outcome of the assessment. This concern is heightened by a perceived culture of refusal on the part of the LAA,’ it said.
Rowley: Defendants failed to act with sufficient promptness
A costs judge has upheld a default costs certificate (DCC) on a $3.7m bill after the paying party’s solicitors did not show any sense of urgency in dealing with it.
As a result, the London office of US firm King & Spalding (KS) failed to serve draft points of dispute for the hearing to set it aside.
National Bank of Kazakhstan & Another v The Bank of New York Mellon & Ors made headlines at the start of the first lockdown last year as the first fully virtual trial in the Commercial Court.
In the wake of the ruling, London firm Stewarts for the claimants commenced detailed assessment proceedings on 15 December 2020, for a bill totalling $3.7m.
Litigation firms ‘expected’ to have links with costs lawyers
A Senior Courts Costs Office decision has emphasised that firms should employ costs lawyers or risk paying a heavy financial price.
The Association of Costs Lawyers (ACL) said a recent case should act as a warning to firms of the risk of failing to employ costs lawyers or having arrangements with external costs lawyers – “or at the very least not instructing them quickly when an issue arises”.
The failure of the paying parties in National Bank of Kazakhstan & Another v The Bank of New York Mellon & Ors to instruct costs lawyers promptly after the claimants successfully applied for a default costs certificate (DCC) meant no draft points of dispute were submitted to the court for the application to set aside the DCC.
The Civil Justice Council has unveiled its long-awaited report on guideline hourly rates. Clarity is to be welcomed but after a decade-long freeze it could be a while before solicitors reap the benefits.