Is the personal injury marketplace at odds with solicitor obligations? John Spencer investigates
There is no hiding the fact that the words “no win, no fee” have become synonymous in some circles with ambulance chasing lawyers and spurious claims. Systemic failings in the personal injury (PI) system have unleashed a merry go round of perverse commercial incentives. It is therefore unsurprising that Lord Justice Jackson in his Review of Civil Litigation Costs turned his attention to tackling these inadequacies.
The latest reaction to Jackson LJ’s review is the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ’s) response The Reform of Civil Litigation Funding and Costs published in March 2011. In it, the MoJ outlined a number of areas which are planned to be the subject of legislation later this year, most likely in June, with implementation likely, at earliest, to be from April 2012.
They include the abolition of recoverability of success fees and the introduction of qualified one-way cost shifting (QOCS). With regard to the latter, there is a consequent removal of the need for after the event (ATE) insurance to cover this risk. Therefore in future,
