The lesson is: take time to prepare a robust costs estimate and regularly update it or face Solicitor Act assessment. The old fashioned approach by solicitors claiming it is impossible to predict estimates of costs is now unacceptable. Neither can solicitors provide an early estimate which is then not updated for a considerable period.…
Read more…In the case of Cathal Anthony Lyons v Fox Williams LLP [2016] EWHC 2427 QB the High Court did not agree to the Claimant’s retainer being extended beyond the duties set out in the engagement letter in the absence of clear and unambiguous evidence to the contrary. Circumstances Professional negligence case Claimant suffered injuries…
Read more…Following our blog on 8th August click here, we wanted to provide our readers with more information about billing a client. Here is a detailed summary of the case of Rahimian & Anor v Allan Janes LLP [2016] EWHC B18 (Costs) that confirms the need for a detailed description of work to be included in…
Read more…On appeal, Circuit Judge HH Graham Wood QC decided in Jones -v- Spire Healthcare (case no. A13YJ811) that he was bound by the earlier High Court decision of Jenkins (which allows for the transfer of personal contracts between solicitor and client) and held that, ‘both the benefit and the burden’ of the CFA were successfully…
Read more…Be aware that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills thinks that whereas advertising your legal services on a website is not an ‘offer’, if you send your retainer documentation (contracts or an engagement letter for example) to clients by e-mail, this might be construed as an offer ‘by other electronic means’. If this is the…
Read more…You know that important matters are at stake when Ben Williams QC and Roger Mallalieu grace the corridor of DJ Ian Besford’s court in Kingston-Upon-Hull CC. The case is Budana v Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (we’ve got a copy of the judgment if you’d like it). Why is it important? The client transferred from…
Read more…The case of Ozlem Kupeli & Ors v (1) Cyprus Turkish Airlines (2) Atlasjet Havacilik Anonim Sirketi (currently available on Lawtel – https://www.lawtel.com/UK/Searches/4912/AC9502279) is an interesting case which looks at the Court’s interpretation of the definition of “excursion” under the 2008 Cancellation of Contracts Regulations. The 2008 Regulations have been superseded by the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 but…
Read more…Irwin Mitchell had a rough ride recently in the case of AH v Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust when it transpired that a fee earner at IM had transferred a legally aided client onto a CFA just before 1st April 2013. Apparently, when the fee earner advised the client on the transfer, the fee earner wasn’t aware of the decision…
Read more…The case of Engeham -v- London & Quadrant Housing Ltd & Academy of Plumbing Ltd (01/12/2015) (which is currently only available on Lawtel) is what I call a Plan B case. Plan A for a litigant is to win, get costs awarded and get those costs in the bank with the minimum of fuss and delay. It’s not always that easy…
Read more…Solicitors Act assessments are rare, but they do still occur. In the case of Vlamaki v Sookias & Sookias, the court at first instance and on appeal, found that because the terms of the retainer relating to billing the client were ambiguous, the interim bills that were sent to the client were not ‘statute’ bills for the…
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