With the speed of the fanatic, the Government has confirmed a massive rise in the cost of civil litigation with effect from next Monday March 9th, rather earlier than originally announced. According to the Law Society, whose table is reproduced below, some civil court fees will rise by 622% and even the smallest increase is… Read More »
The new Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is already out of the starting blocks! Taking office at the start of October, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd (a small village in the Brecon Beacons) addressed the members of Gray’s Inn on October 21st. Delivering the annual Birkenhead lecture, he sought to address the issues facing the… Read More »
Many of us will have been thrilled to see an astronomical phenomenon in recent days. Did the moon seem to you to be bigger and brighter recently? Sadly, many of us will also have shrugged our shoulders and asked “What moon?” because in this fine summer of 2013, the skies over the UK have been… Read More »
In the flurry of articles and general excitement over the introduction of the Jackson reforms, I appear to have overlooked a case which was decided by Mr Justice Coulson sitting in the Technology and Construction Court in March this year. Although the hearing took place on March 27th, the judgment in Murray and Stokes v Neil Dowlman… Read More »
In 1848, a certain John Russell Bartlett published a Dictionary of Americanisms. Mr Bartlett has it that the phrase slick as a whistle is “a proverbial simile, in common use throughout the United States. To do anything as slick as a whistle, is to do it very smoothly, perfectly, adroitly.” Possibly because I do not… Read More »
It is that time of year again when predictions are flying about and, as anyone who has been asked to make predictions will tell you, predictions do not get any easier. In fact, it has been said, “predictions are difficult, especially about the future.” You may imagine my delight when I heard that quotation at… Read More »
Bing Crosby* singing a song from the Great Depression seems a long way from where we are now in 2010, but to borrow a phrase, buddy can you spare £80 billion? I know that at election time, we, the voters, are supposed to ask the difficult questions and receive the collective wisdom of our political… Read More »
A recent US case of a law firm suing a client contains a salutary lesson. Debevoise & Plimpton had sued former client Candlewood for $6million in unpaid legal fees and found itself facing “an answer and counterclaim” seeking damages of $55million! [Ex-Debevoise Client Raises Nasty Counterclaims in Unpaid Bills Case, The American Lawyer, 14 January,… Read More »
Last weekend’s Sunday Times Business section carried an article by Danny Fortson and Kate Walsh about the advisers working on the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The pictures at the top of the article showing a grim faced Dick Fuld, former Chief Executive, and one of the workers who lost her job that fateful day almost one… Read More »