Proportionality is something that is considered from the pre-action stage, right through to assessment of costs. It has become a term that is familiar to some and feared by many. On 1 April 2013, a new test of proportionality came in to force by virtue of CPR 44.3(2)(a), whereby costs that are disproportionate in amount may be disallowed or reduced even if they were reasonably or necessarily incurred. Continue reading
In his pioneering judgment in CMOC Sales & Marketing Limited v Persons Unknown and 30 others, HHJ Waksman QC (sitting as a judge of the High Court) has confirmed that the court has jurisdiction to grant freezing injunctions against persons unknown. This follows his previous interim ruling on this point when he granted what is believed to be the first freezing injunction against persons unknown. Continue reading
It is now 11 years since the Legal Services Act 2007 (LSA) was passed and eight since the regulatory regime it created fully came into being. And still, unfortunately, there are those elsewhere in the legal profession who do not recognise the difference between costs lawyers and costs draftsmen. Continue reading