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At present, a favourable “costs” environment exists for litigants regarding the recovery of own solicitors costs and uplifts, reflected in CFA agreements, and the recovery of ATE premiums. Post Jackson, insurance and funding of own fees is likely to become more prominent.

The Jackson Reforms: A Brief Summary

1. The Bill had its FIRST reading in the House of Lords on 3rd November – this stage is simply a formality signalling the Bill’s journey through the Lords.

2. The SECOND reading, still to be scheduled, is the general debate on all aspects of the Bill and it is anticipated that there will be considerable lobbying of Peers to influence the outcome. If it is passed by the Lords it will go for Royal Assent and could be enacted as early as October 2012.

3. The THIRD reading and passing in the House of Commons of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill (which, inter alia, codifies the “Jackson proposals”) paves the way for reforms which will remove “recoverability” of certain costs

Anticipating these changes TheJudge has been working for some time on various insurance and financing strategies to maximise the existing advantages and developing alternative strategies for a “post Jackson” environment.

One of these strategies involves speeding up the process by making available low cost disbursement funding for those cases where funds are in short supply or the client’s “sanctioning” process causes unnecessary delay.