BPTC Law Notes BPTC Civil Ligitation Notes
A collection of the best BPTC notes the director of Oxbridge Notes (an Oxford law graduate) could find after combing through dozens of samples from outstanding students with the highest results in England and carefully evaluating each on accuracy, formatting, logical structure, spelling/grammar, conciseness and "wow-factor".
In short, these are what we believe to be the strongest set of BPTC notes available in the UK this year. This collection of BPTC notes is fully updated for recent exams, ...
The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our BPTC Civil Ligitation Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:
FUNDING LITIGATION
TWO TYPES OF COSTS
solicitor-client costs
inter partes costs
DUTY TO ADVISE CLIENTS ON FUNDING
solicitor under duty to tell + explain to client funding options (solicitors fees + liabilities between parties)
solicitor must give best possible info about overall cost of case (SRA code of conduct)
funding arrangement must: be legal + meet client's needs (SRA code of conduct)
usually send letter containing: above, name + status of fee earner and who fee earner reports to
breach of code of conduct does NOT render retainer illegal, BUT taken into account when assessing costs
TRADITIONAL RETAINER
= contractual relationship between:
law firm + client; and
barrister + instructing solicitor
client pays for:
solicitor at hourly rate
= salary of staff + fee earner + profit
several approaches:
set fee for each fee earner; or
regional rates for different grades of fee earner based on guideline rates published by Senior Courts Costs Office; or
quote lower hourly rate + add mark up of variable percentage
disbursements
court fees
experts' fees
counsel's fees
photocopies etc.
solicitor should send client care letter: confirming rates, estimating costs + including arrangements for billing
time for payment
usually pay:
sum on account when first retained; +
periodically during litigation
LEGAL EXPENSES INSURANCE (BTE INSURANCE)
often included with car, home insurance etc.
insurer pays costs
usually, BTE insurer should be used in preference to other methods of funding (Sarwar v Alam) checking if client has = first task of solicitor on new instructions
insurer often requires periodical updates on merits of claim to assess whether continuing litigation justifiable under insurance terms
AFTER THE EVENT INSURANCE
usual rule: costs follow the event (r44.3(2))
ATE insurance = covers other side's costs - premium tied to risk of losing + likely level of costs
(before April 2013, ATE premiums recoverable against loser BUT revoked by LASPO)
all / some ATE premiums ARE recoverable against loser for expert reports on liability + causation in clin neg disputes with a financial value exceeding 1000
CHAMPERTY, THE INDEMNITY PRINCIPLE + JACKSON
contracts savouring of maintenance (meddling in litigation without just cause) or champerty (meddler seeks to obtain share of proceeds of suit) = illegal
consequence if winner has illegal funding arrangement = CANNOT recover costs from losing party due to the indemnity principle (paying party cannot be liable to pay more in costs than winner is liable to pay own lawyers)
1 April 2000 legal aid reforms
public funding of civil claims cut
to compensate, CFAs encouraged
indemnity principle abrogated for certain type of CFA: client liable to pay legal rep's costs only to extent recovered from other side
Jackson legal aid reforms - 1 April 2013
recommended abolition of indemnity principle (NOT implemented)
implemented following changes
abolished recoverability of success fees from unsuccessful parties; and
capped success fees recoverable from client for PI at 25% of damages (excluding future loss)
legalised contingency fees
increased general damages for personal injuries + suffering by 10% (many causes of action, NOT just PI)
enhanced damages by further 10% as reward for effective C Part 36 ooffer
banned referral fees
introduced costs protection for Cs in PI claims (QOCS)
CFAs
CFA =
solicitor agrees client liable to pay firm's expenses only if claim successful
BUT if claim successful, solicitor entitled to charge:
usual rate ('base costs'); AND
% uplift of usual rate - related to risks of litigation - CANNOT exceed 100% of solicitor's base costs ('success fee')
if claim UNsuccessful, client pays other side's costs (can get ATE insurance to cover)
does NOT cover disbursements (makes express provision for who liable)
if counsel instructed, usually 2 CFAs: client-solicitor AND client-counsel
CFAs must:
be in writing
relate to a type of case where CFAs permitted (all civil except family)
specify success fee, if any
must NOT exceed 100% base costs; AND
PI proceedings at first instance only: must NOT exceed 25% of damages recoverable for PSLA + past pecuniary loss, excluding sums recoverable by Compensation Recovery Unit (CFU) under Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Act 1997
level of the success fee
the higher the chance of success, the lower the success fee, so evens out over appropriate number of claims:
50% chance of success = 100% success fee
75% chance of success = 33% success fee
DAMAGES-BASED AGREEMENT (DBA)
DBA =
solicitor agrees client liable to pay firm's expenses only if claim successful
BUT if claim successful, solicitor entitled to % of damages recovered
introduced 1 April 2013
DBA enforceable if:
it is in writing
does NOT relate to proceedings:
which CANNOT be subject of CFA (family proceedings)
of a description prescribed by Lord Chancellor (currently none)
does NOT relate to payment above prescribed amount
prescribed amount to be paid by client
only applies to first instance matters, which fall into 2 categories in non-employment proceedings:
non-PI claims:
can only require client to pay costs + expenses (including disbursements) which are net of any costs + expenses paid by another party
amount must NOT exceed 50% of sums ultimately recovered by client
PI:
NOT more than 25% of combination of following (excluding recoverable CFU payments) recovered by client:
general PSLA damages; AND
damages for past pecuniary loss
T&Cs comply with prescribed requirements + specify:
claim or proceedings / part to which DBA relates
circumstances in which reps payment, expenses + costs / part payable
reason for setting payment at level agreed
person providing services under DBA complied with prescribed requirements re: provision of information
award of costs (r44.18)
fact party has entered DBA does NOT affect costs orders which can be made in...
Buy the full version of these notes or essay plans and more in our BPTC Civil Ligitation Notes.
A collection of the best BPTC notes the director of Oxbridge Notes (an Oxford law graduate) could find after combing through dozens of samples from outstanding students with the highest results in England and carefully evaluating each on accuracy, formatting, logical structure, spelling/grammar, conciseness and "wow-factor".
In short, these are what we believe to be the strongest set of BPTC notes available in the UK this year. This collection of BPTC notes is fully updated for recent exams, ...
Ask questions 🙋 Get answers 📔 It's simple 👁️👄👁️
Our AI is educated by the highest scoring students across all subjects and schools. Join hundreds of your peers today.
Get Started