Writing in this week’s NLJ, Iain Miller, partner, and Charlotte Judd, senior associate, Kingsley Napley, point out that ‘this case and previous authorities have demonstrated that the framework of RLAs under Legal Services Act 2007 is full of grey areas as to when a practitioner does and does not fall on the right side of the line, with potentially very serious repercussions if one gets this wrong’.
Miller and Judd draw out some of the main elements at play when weighing up whether or not litigation is being conducted. In Baxter v Doble, the judge held Mrs Doble and her company were conducting litigation but did not know they were and could not have been reasonably expected to know they were doing so.
Miller and Judd write: ‘The confusing state of the law was a key feature in this conclusion being reached.’
