Overcrowded prisons and an underfunded criminal justice system are already demanding the attention of our new prime minister. However, given his pre-politics career, Sir Keir Starmer will understand better than most several other issues lawyers are currently grappling with which would benefit from government review. While these are unlikely to feature on the public’s priority list, they can only be resolved through government intervention. Here is one lawyer’s wish list for Sir Keir’s first year in office (assuming the first 100 days agenda is already full):
PACCAR & the Litigation Funding Agreements (Enforceability) Bill
The Supreme Court decision in R (on the application of PACCAR Inc and others) (Appellants) v Competition Appeal Tribunal and others (Respondents) [2023] UKSC 28, [2023] 4 All ER 675 changed the litigation funding landscape in the UK. The decision held that litigation funding agreements which enabled funders to take a payment based on the amount of damages recovered fell within the scope of s 58AA(3) of the Courts and Legal Services
