Law Costs Draftsmen
Law costs draftsmen are facing a challenging future. Lord Justice Jackson’s Review of Civil Litigation Costs recommended the greatest shake-up to the English legal costs system ever seen. At one stage it looked as though his recommendations might not be implemented. It is now clear, through a combination of government and judicial initiatives, that most, if not all, will be.
For the average law costs draftsman or costs lawyer the proposal for fixed costs for all stages in personal injury fast track claims is the most significant. This would remove the bread-and-butter work for the majority of those working in the field and wipe-out the volume legal costs negotiators.
The proposal to end recovery of success fees and ATE premiums between the parties will not have a direct impact on the nature of the work undertaken by law costs draftsmen but is likely to have two indirect consequences. Claimant lawyers argue this proposal will reduce the number of claims they take on. If this happens there will be less legal costs work available as a consequence of the drop in claim numbers. Secondly, it has been the amounts at stake as a result of the recoverability of success fees and ATE premiums that has done much to increase the importance of legal costs in litigation and generate the need for specialist law costs draftsmen and costs lawyers. Once additional liabilities are removed from legal costs claims, lawyers and insurers may feel much more comfortable negotiating costs themselves in these cases and no longer feel the need to involve experts.
Jackson LJ wants new software developed that will enable schedules of costs and bills of costs to be generated automatically. The traditional job of a law costs draftsmen, drafting bills of costs (as the name implies), is to end. It is envisaged that there will be more description as to the nature of the work undertaken and why the work was necessary. However, this is likely to be done by the fee earner as the case progresses, via case management software, or by the fee earner at the conclusion of the claim.
Lord Justice Jackson wants to end lengthy points of dispute and replies which generate a large proportion of the work undertaken in the legal costs world.
A provisional detailed assessment pilot is about to be launched for bills with base costs of up to £25,000. Although the current pilot scheme appears to leave much to be desired, the future is clearly envisaged to need much less in the way of advocacy from the average law costs draftsman (or specialist costs counsel come to that).
The recommendation for qualified one-way costs shifting would remove the need for defendant bills of costs in most cases where a defendant wins on liability. It would mean an end to the need for unsuccessful claimants to challenge such costs. Again, less work for legal costs professionals.
Challenging times indeed for law costs draftsmen.
