The long awaited review of Civil Litigation Costs: Final Report of Lord Justice Jackson was published on the 14th January 2010. It can be viewed here, but it does run to more than 500 pages.
Healys is a firm which offers (in appropriate cases) "no win no fee" arrangements and we are concerned (as is the Professional Negligence Lawyers Association) that Lord Justice Jackson appears to be proposing a complete ban on the recovery of "after the event" premiums (i.e. the premium you pay an insurer against the possibility of an adverse costs order) and success fees (i.e. the uplift a solicitor obtains on a successful outcome under a "no win no fee" arrangement).
His rationale appears to be that those who can afford to instruct professionals can also afford "before the event" insurance. With respect, we disagree and believe that if this aspect of Lord Jackson's review (and it is subject to consultation) is accepted, it will deprive a significant proportion of the public access to justice.
We specialise in acting for claimants in professional negligence claims against solicitors, barristers, architects, surveyors, valuers and other professionals.
For many of our clients, we act on "no win no fee" arrangements or in other ways assume some of the risk in respect of fees that have traditionally been the responsibility of the claimant.
We consider that a number of the claimants with whom we have and currently act for in such claims would not have been able to have pursued the claim had we not been able to offer these kinds of arrangements.
We are only able to offer these kinds of arrangements, and risk not being paid anything, where there is appropriate reward in the form of a success fee if / when we are successful. That success fee is currently recoverable (to the extent reasonable) from the defendant on a successful outcome but if that were not to be the case (as Lord Jackson suggests) it would need to be paid by the claimant from (presumably) the damages awarded.
The proposal renders the "no win no fee" arrangement significantly less attractive for both solicitor and client.
The purpose of this article has not been to summarise all of the report, and if you would like a summary or want clarification on any specific aspects, please contact Robert Johnson (telephone 020 7822 4106, e-mail robert.johnson@healys.com) in London or Nick Taylor (telephone 01273 669128, e-mail nicholas.taylor@healys.com) in Brighton.
