The government confirmed its implementation of Lord Justice Jackson’s civil litigation costs reforms in its Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill
The Jackson reforms would abolish the recoverability of success fees and after-the-event insurance in cases funded by conditional fee arrangements (CFAs), allow contingency fees (damages-based agreements) and increase general damages by ten per cent.
Lawyers gave a mixed reaction.
Andrew Parker, head of strategic litigation at Beachcroft and an assessor to the Jackson Review, said: “It’s good to see the government sticking to its guns on implementing the core principles of Jackson LJ’s recommendations; businesses and consumers will benefit from this control of disproportionate legal costs.”
However, Susan Brown, director at law firm Prolegal, said:“Introducing a system which has no certainty of reducing costs and could equally well increase them, will undoubtedly lead to satellite litigation, will make it more difficult for claimants to find an experienced personal lawyer to represent them, and is extremely dangerous at a time when the legal services industry is on the brink of the major upheaval that will result from the introduction of alternative business structures.”
Brown said Clarke “used the argument that CFAs would protect access to justice as legal aid is withdrawn for clinical negligence cases, but failed to explain that this access to justice will no longer be as widely available because of the reforms he is proposing to no win no fee agreements”.
