Litigation/Dispute Resolution
Costs budgeting ‘lite’ pilots “may not save time or money”
The new costs budgeting ‘lite’ pilots may not save solicitors time or money, it has been claimed – but the deputy head of civil justice insisted that ways to reduce costs have to be tried out.
High Court takes axe again to claimants’ Dieselgate budgets
The High Court has again taken an axe to the claimants’ costs budgets in the ‘Dieselgate’ group litigation, saying the lawyers have not fully learned the lessons from when it happened last year.
SDT clears newly qualified solicitor in “chaotic” firm
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has dismissed all allegations against a newly qualified solicitor working in “a chaotic operational and management structure”.
County court delays falling – but still a long way to go
The government claimed yesterday that “our reforms are working” after the latest county court statistics showed that delays continued to fall against the backdrop of a rising workload.
Class action lawyers “may be more interested” in fees than clients
The Competition Appeal Tribunal is “alert” to the possibility that revenue streams are the priority for lawyers and funders where they, rather than the claimants, initiate class actions.
Car finance lawyers “smashed doors open” at Supreme Court
The solicitor behind the successful car finance commission claim at the Supreme Court earlier this month has said he believes his team “smashed the doors open” to future claims.
Court of Appeal ruling gives renewed hope for data breach claims
The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court decision that appeared to limit the rights of data breach victims to bring claims.
Will writer’s failures help convince judge to find undue influence
Failures by a will-writing company were among circumstantial evidence that led a High Court master to decide a will was made under undue influence.
SRA uncovers significant shortcomings among volume claims firms
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has uncovered a significant amount of poor practice in the way law firms are managing high-volume consumer claims.
FCA urged to rethink advice to “millions” of law firm car finance clients
The Financial Conduct Authority has been urged to rethink its advice to consumers using law firms in motor finance claims after research showed how many have already signed up.
ACSO bids to lead collective action against Amazon
The Association of Consumer Support Organisations is looking to sue Amazon on behalf of more than 45m consumers who bought products on its website from third-party sellers.
Law firm fails to strike out negligence claim over loan advice
A Surrey law firm has failed to strike out a negligence claim brought by a married couple who claim they were forced to sell their home to fund litigation over a loan that was not repaid.
Claimant lawyers accuse City law firm over class action “propaganda”
Claimant class action lawyers have accused a leading City law firm of doing the dirty work of the US Chamber of Commerce, which campaigns in the UK for pro-business civil justice reform.
Lobby group to intervene on distribution of £10m in unclaimed damages
The CAT has granted business lobby group Fair Civil Justice permission to intervene in a hearing on how to distribute £10m not claimed in a collective action.
Law firm to pay £105k over Plevin cases it failed to progress
A law firm which failed to uphold its side of a deal when taking on another practice’s Plevin cases has been ordered to pay it £105,000.
Blog
Change in regulator shouldn’t make AML less of a priority
While SRA fines for AML have been climbing, many in the profession aren’t confident they will get any relief from the FCA, a body used to dealing with a highly regulated industry.
There are 17 million wills waiting to be written
The main reason cited by people who do not have a will was a lack of awareness as to how to arrange one. As a professional community, we seem to be failing to get our message across.
The case for a single legal services regulator: why the current system is failing
From catastrophic firm collapses to endemic compliance failures, the evidence is mounting that the current multi-regulator model is fundamentally broken.
