Commercial, Disputes and Litigation Funding

As a litigator, you keep a lot of balls in the air

Notwithstanding their importance for the firm and for the client, costs budgeting, litigation funding and assessment are time-intensive processes to manage.

Enlist a qualified and experienced costs specialist to take the strain and ensure your costs issues get the attention they require: be it advice, assistance with litigation funding, costs drafting, or advocacy at CCMC and detailed assessment.

Case Study 1

Client: National Multi-Disciplinary Firm

Type of Case: Breach of Contract Claim in the Commercial Court

Brief: To prepare a Bill of Costs and obtain a further payment on account

Time to Complete: 3 weeks to prepare Bill of Costs

Result: £60,000 payment on account secured

The Matter

Our solicitor client had been successful, following a 6-day trial, in a claim for breach of contract and breach of trust relating to the assignment of debt and the failure to pay over sums recovered from the debtor to the assignor. Substantial damages were obtained and the court ordered the Defendant to pay 90% of the Claimant’s costs, reflecting the fact that the Claimant had succeeded on the majority of the issues but not all. In addition, the Defendant was ordered to pay £90,000.00 on account of costs.

The Costs Issues

While a £90,000.00 interim payment had been ordered, the costs incurred in the matter were substantially higher than that. We were faced with an intransigent Defendant who was unlikely to agree to settlement at a reasonable level or to the payment of further money on account.

Our Approach

Upon receipt of the electronic papers, we prepared an initial draft of the electronic Bill of Costs, liaising with our instructing solicitor to obtain the information needed to ensure that the Bill was fully comprehensive and accurate. We prepared a detailed narrative explaining the complexities of the case, demonstrating what work was required to be done in the case and why, and highlighting the poor conduct of the Defendant paying party. The Bill of Costs was prepared in electronic ‘eBill’ format and divided into 43 separate parts to reflect the invoices raised to the client.

We prepared a letter of advice to accompany the draft, addressing the costs issues which were likely to arise, including issues relating to budgeting and proportionality. The draft Bill and accompanying letter were delivered to our client within 3 weeks of receipt of the papers.

We considered that there was scope for a further payment on account of the costs. As the same was not agreed, following receipt of Points of Dispute we promptly prepared and filed an Application Notice seeking an Interim Costs Certificate, which was filed together with our Request for Detailed Assessment.

The Outcome

The Defendant opposed our application and accordingly the application proceeded to a contested telephone hearing at which a further payment on account in the sum of £60,000.00 was ordered, taking the total payable on account to £150,000.00. Our client was pleased with our speedy and efficient service which helped to recover this substantial sum.

Case Study 2

Client: Manchester Commercial Firm

Type of Case: Intellectual Property Dispute in the Circuit Commercial Court

Brief: To prepare Points of Dispute and negotiate favourable settlement

Time to Complete: 1 week to prepare Points of Dispute, 3 weeks thereafter to negotiate settlement

Result: Reduction of costs to 67% of those claimed

The Matter

Our solicitor client represented one of the Defendants to an intellectual property dispute in which a Search Order had been obtained and executed by the Claimant. Our instructing solicitor was able to bring the matter to a conclusion with the payment of limited damages. The Claimant subsequently served a substantial Bill of Costs upon our client.

The Costs Issues

The lay client paid £40,000.00 on account of the costs prior to Whittakers’ instruction, and of the total costs incurred against both Defendants, £60,000.00 was sought from our client in the Bill of Costs. Our opponent was represented by a large, well-known costs firm.

The matter was subject to Costs Budgeting, and upon review of the matter we had concerns as to the manner in which the budgeted allowances had been represented in the Claimant’s Bill of Costs, and whether the same truly reflected the Costs Management Order which had been made. We also considered that there were issues to be addressed concerning the proportionality of the costs claimed and the hourly rates charged.

Our Approach

Upon receipt of instructions we undertook a thorough review of the Claimant’s electronic Bill of Costs and identified the key areas of weakness in it. We proceeded to prepare detailed and thorough Points of Dispute, including persuasive points of principle which demonstrated that the Claimant had incorrectly represented the terms of the Costs Management Order in the Bill of Costs, and had in fact exceeded the approved Costs Budget in a number of phases and had, in addition, wrongly represented costs as ‘non-Budgeted’ which were in fact subject to budgeting. Additionally, we prepared robust arguments to show that the costs claimed were disproportionate and the hourly rates claimed excessive, having regard to the nature of the matter and the location of the Claimant.

Our 25-page draft Points of Dispute were provided to our client within 1 week of our instruction together which recommendations on the appropriate level of an offer.

The Outcome

We were instructed to proceed as recommended and served the Points of Dispute together with a Part 36 offer and an open offer. Further negotiations followed and, following without prejudice discussions with the Claimant’s solicitor, we secured a settlement which required our lay client to pay just £1,000.00 in addition to the £40,000.00 already paid on account. This represented a full and final settlement, inclusive of costs of assessment and interest, and was achieved within 3 weeks of provision of the draft Points of Dispute. Both our instructing solicitor and our lay client were happy that such a good result had been achieved in a short timescale.