Patrick Allen calls for a review of the future of costs budgeting
It is now more than two years since budgets were introduced as a requirement for multi-track work. Lord Justice Jackson, reviewing progress in the spring (his lecture on 13 May 2015), said that costs management brings substantial benefits to “court users”. Many will disagree.
Jackson LJ formed his view after canvassing opinions at meetings with practitioners and judges. There was no systematic, anonymised survey.
He acknowledged the concerns of practitioners and dismissed them on the basis that “the contentment of lawyers is not an appropriate test” (but nor is the contentment of judges), and that “they don’t like budgeting because it means more work and new skills”.
However it is possible that many object because they see no benefits, only extra costs and burdens.
Controversy
Controversy has dogged the new system from the start. The new rules on budgets and sanctions nearly destroyed the reputation of our civil justice system for fairness with the disastrous Mitchell decision when £506,000
