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10 June 2010 / Richard East
Categories: Opinion , Costs
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Counting the cost

If the controversial recommendations in Lord Jackson's recent report are adopted then lawyers in England and Wales will for the first time be able to take a slice of their client's damages.

What place might contingency fees have in large-scale commercial cases and what are the associated problems for such fee models? asks Richard East

If the controversial recommendations in Lord Jackson's recent report are adopted then lawyers in England and Wales will for the first time be able to take a slice of their client's damages.

My own view is that it will take some time for the market to adjust but such contingencies fees have the potential to change the shape of major commercial litigation.

A firm's own financial success becomes tied not to the volume or intensity of its cases but to their outcome and, more specifically, to the ultimate recovery. There is an attractive logic in achieving such a close alignment between the interests of the client and those of its lawyers, all the more so in the case

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