Lord Justice Jackson today released his Final Report, recommending changes to the civil litigation system in England and Wales to promote access to justice at proportionate cost. The report follows his Preliminary Report of May 2009 (www.law-now.com/law-now/2009/preliminaryreport240609.htm), and an extensive consultation on how civil litigation can be made more cost effective.

Some of the important recommendations made in the Final Report include:

  • Ending the current regime of "no win / no fee" agreements, by making success fees and ATE insurance premiums irrecoverable from unsuccessful defendants.
  • Allowing lawyers to act on a contingency fee basis, which usually means that if a claim succeeds the lawyer is paid a percentage of the judgment sum, or if the claim fails the lawyer is paid little or nothing at all. Contingency fees are used widely in North America, and Lord Justice Jackson sees no objection in principle to them being used in England and Wales.
  • Keeping the ten pre-action protocols that apply to specific types of litigation, but repealing the general protocol. On the whole, the pre-action protocols are regarded as a useful way of assisting parties to resolve their disputes without having to go to trial, and thereby avoiding unnecessary costs.
  • Encouraging judges, in appropriate cases, to take a more "hands on" approach to case management and keeping costs under control. The use of cost budgets is seen as one possible way of tackling this issue.

We will be preparing a more detailed Law-Now article that summarises the key points emerging from the Final Report and their implications. The senior judiciary, including the Lord Chief Justice, have thrown their weight behind Lord Justice Jackson's report, and if his recommendations are implemented we can expect to see major changes to the civil litigation landscape.

The Final Report will be available on the Judiciary's web site (www.judiciary.gov.uk/about_judiciary/cost-review/index.htm)

Julian assisted Lord Justice Jackson in all three Phases of his costs review, including in the preparation of the Final Report.

This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq

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The original publication date for this article was 14/01/2010.