Lord Justice Jackson’s report highlights the problem of spiralling legal costs

Lawyers across the UK have been waiting with bated breath for Lord Justice Jackson’s report into the current legal funding system; with many predicting that no win no fee cases may be replaced with, or run alongside a contingent legal fund.


The results of the report are damning, to say the least, revealing spiralling costs, brought on by ever increasing legal fees, that are out of proportion with the damages that people recoup from their claims.

The Lord Justice Jackson is also appealing to minister to reconsider their policy of charging increasingly higher fees for people bringing a claim to a civil court, so as to make the courts pay for them themselves. The report states: "We have arguably reached the position in this jurisdiction, where the level of costs is so high that facing a full adverse costs order is likely to be a disaster for most ordinary citizens. Individuals do not litigate unless they can find a way of protecting themselves, should they lose. This happens usually through insurance, which "comes at a very high price."

The report, which is 650 pages long, has highlighted the success fees charged by lawyers who are operating under the no win no fee systems as a major reason for the current cost explosion being experienced in many civil cases. The report said that lawyers pay "has not been dependent on what lawyers charge their clients, but on what they can successfully recover by way of costs from the unsuccessful opponent".

The report also cites the middle men involved, such as claims management companies who can charge anything up to £1,000 pounds to be referred cases from solicitors, and medical reports companies who are paid more than the doctor who produced the reports.

Speaking to the Times newspaper, David Allen, head of litigation at the international law firm, Mayer Brown, welcomed the report’s view that "one size does not fit all". Lawyers were receptive to change but he cautioned against being "thrown off course" by a couple of big cases where costs appeared to have been disproportionate.


He said: "If we want to continue to have a court system, which at its highest level is efficient, fair and the envy of many other jurisdictions, that will come at a price."

Also speaking to the Times, David Greene, president of the London Solicitors Litigation Association, welcomed the report as the presenting of "a serious challenge to solicitors and their clients to consider the evidence and preliminary proposals" which had "thrown down the gauntlet to get us all thinking of how we achieve proportionate access to justice for all seeking to pursue their rights".

He predicted that, it could "start a revolution of our litigation system equal to that started by Lord Woolf ten years ago".

Lord Justice Jackson’s report has summed up the problem that spiraling costs are threatening to cripple the civil legal system, yet with no win no fee a great access to justice has been made available for many across the UK. The report has suggested that changes need to be rung in before things get out of control, so the next question to be asked is, what is the future for civil cases across the UK?




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