Adam Burrell eases the pain of costs management
Costs management, particularly the requirement to produce detailed costs budgets, has attracted both criticism and resistance. However, costs management can work provided it is appreciated that it’s not just about the detail buried in the budgets.
First stage
Directions set the framework
A key principle of costs management is visibility of the steps that are considered reasonable and proportionate to prosecute or defend a case to conclusion. At the outset the battleground is not concerned with detail or amounts but whether assumptions are reasonable. The first stage should be consideration of what directions are required, for example, whether it really is going take three different expert disciplines with each party having their own experts, as opposed to joint experts. This is a natural progression of the “cards on the table” approach introduced by Woolf. Gone are the days of being able to build a case or defence without any transparency of what steps your opponent is taking.
- Be realistic. Do not be tempted
