On Costs

For some time I have been meaning to post on the current civil costs assessment regime. We obviously experience this as a result of our costs drafting work and are consequently fairly attuned to changes in the Commissions approaches.
Perhaps more significantly however has been the slow but steady increase in phone enquiries about reductions, and the trends in such assessments.
What seems unquestionable is that we are entering, or rather have already entered, a sharper assessment regime.
Most common to date have been reductions of experts hourly rates, often after the expert has been paid prior to the completion of the final bill. This has even been the case involving joint instructions , and shared fees, in Care cases. This therefore, if not appealed, represents a de facto slash at the firms profit costs.
The MFP (Maximum Fee Principle) has also reappeared in our world – especially leading to small reductions for “briefing” Counsel in the FPC.
There has clearly been some training and supervisory changes at the LSC.
By far the biggest loss of costs we witness however is due to firms failing to extend cost limitations. We have witnessed over

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