Civil Justice Reform

Abstract

Abstract This short chapter summarises the philosophy which underlies the package of reforms, for which I was responsible. Controlling costs in advance, either by ad hoc budgeting or by fixed costs for lower value cases was essential. So was the abolition of recoverable success fees and recoverable ATE insurance premiums, since these drove up litigation costs unacceptably. Another essential element of the reforms was increasing the range of methods available for funding litigation. This recommendation has led to an increase in the use of third party funding and the enactment regulations to permit damages based agreements (otherwise known as contingency fees). Those regulations have some technical defects, but there is now a report before the Ministry of Justice explaining how such defects should be put right, and it is hoped those recommendations will be carried forward by the Ministry of Justice.