Costs

By David KnappBarlow Lyde & Gilbert

Planes

Cars

Consumer Goods

“Never had it so good”

…nor have Lawyers

Number of Solicitors on the Roll

1976 - 31,250

2005 - 96,757

Plus Paralegals, Trainees, Litigation Support Lawyers

and part and fully qualified Legal Executives

……especially with costs

London Band Guideline Rates

Grade£/Hour

A B C D

City of London 359.00 259.00 198.00 122.00

Central London 276.00 210.00 171.00 110.00

Outer London(Gravesend, Uxbridge, Dartford) 198.00-149.00- 144.00 105.00

232.00 198.00

GRADE A - 8 Years plus qualified Solicitor (aged 32 )

GRADE B - 4 Years plus qualified Solicitor or Legal Executive

GRADE C - Anyone not a Trainee or Paralegal

Base rates i.e. before uplift for Conditional Fee Agreement

(“CFA”)

UPLIFT

Tripper = 50%

Employers Liability = 70%

Also Ku -v- Liverpool City CouncilLiability conceded but uplift was not reduced

- 50% throughout currency of claim, including assessment of costs

1. Substantial Tripper issued out of Central London County Court.

2. Modest tripper issued out of Central London County Court.

Grade A Fee Earner£276.00 + [50%] £138.00 = £414.00 /

Hour

Grade C Fee Earner£171.00 + [50%] £85.00 = £256.00 /

Hour

NB No Defendant access to Claimant's files resulting in :

(a) Excessive time recording?

(b) Failure to check BTE Insurance?

(c) Incorrect risk assessment on mark up - future successful EL claims will have mark up of 27.5%

Many problems caused by CPR :

(a) Pre-action protocol used by too many Claimant Lawyers as a fund raising exercise for PADs.

(b) Increased number of Case Management Conferences

(c) Duties on experts greater and more expensive - joint statements, questions of experts, nominations

Compare and Contrast

Legal Services Commission Rate

- Civil cases where unsuccessful - £75.00 / Hour

- Criminal cases often as low as £100.00 / Day

Solutions

(a) Revert back to LSC public funding and their rates - costs to Treasury for civil claims circa £50 million ?

(b) Civil Justice Council to reduce hourly rates for Lawyers (turkeys and Christmas)?

(c) Something more novel ???