By 15 January this year two long awaited developments had occurred. A consultation on guideline hourly rates, last revised a decade ago, was published and then a week later the Court of Appeal handed down judgment about the workings of damages based agreements in Zuberi v Lexlaw (2021) EWCA Civ 16. Both of these events have generated joy within the civil litigation community.
Lord Justice Jackson, in his seminal report, recommended that solicitors be permitted to act in proceedings in return for a percentage of damages recovered. This model of financing claims was already well established in employment tribunal proceedings. This author advised the government on the relevant regulations.
Bemusement
Unfortunately, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), to the bemusement of Sir Rupert, failed to adhere to his detailed recommendations. The resulting regulations were a mess. In particular, the strangulated language seemed to ban a solicitor charging the client anything at all when acting under
