Litigation/Dispute Resolution

A former City solicitor was wrong not to return to a Saudi princess a $25m fund he had been managing for her over several years, the High Court has ruled.

An agreement that a defendant will pay their solicitors a percentage of any sums they successfully resist having to pay the claimant is unlawful and unenforceable, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

A litigation funder launched this week with £25m backing from a US private equity firm is targeting what a “niche within a niche” – cases worth up to £1m in the Midlands and the North.

A law firm has been ordered to pay wasted costs of £7,920 for not satisfying itself that the director of a company in deadlock with the other director had the authority to give it instructions.

A litigant in person is not statute-barred from suing a law centre and barrister for professional negligence, a High Court master has ruled.

The rules on misconduct in the CPR do not apply to solicitor/client costs assessments, the High Court has decided in overturning a finding against a Manchester law firm.

A rethought costs system that puts digitisation, vulnerable court users and a properly functioning civil justice system is the goal set out in a Civil Justice Council consultation.

A costs judge has ruled that a litigation friend did not give informed consent to deductions from a protected party’s damages simply by signing a conditional fee agreement.

Listed insolvency litigation funder Manolete saw its turnover and profit fall significantly in the last year due to Covid but is now seeing “strong growth in new case enquiries”.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is set to make it easier for law firm staff to blow the whistle on their employers, as part of its work on SLAPPs – of which it is investigating more than 20.

The whole profession needs to address “out of control” legal costs, a major new report has concluded, but costs lawyers have a significant role to play in exerting downward pressure on them.

A small central London law firm has been awarded the £300,000 owed under a retainer which the client had claimed was not payable as the transaction it advised on did not go ahead.

Absolute privilege applies to communications within pre-action protocols and protects them from defamation claims, a deputy High Court master has ruled in the first such decision.

A Bradford law firm has failed in an application for an order to force a firm in London to reveal who provided it with web copy that was identical to its own.

City law firm Charles Russell Speechlys acted unreasonably in refusing to mediate a professional negligence claim that it ultimately lost, the High Court has ruled.