Minimising legal costs: Why prevention is better than the cure

In my role as a Deputy District Judge in the County Courts, one of my functions is to assess the legal costs claimed by the winning party against the losing party in civil disputes.

Having been a litigation lawyer for over 23 years and involved in a number of high profile cases, I thought I had seen it all when it came to legal fees.

I have to say, however, it always comes as a surprise to see the huge bills of costs run up on some cases where the amounts in dispute are relatively small, or where the issues aren’t of particular importance to the parties to the claim. It is not uncommon to see cases where the costs claimed are wholly disproportionate to the amount in dispute, sometimes two, three or even four times the damages awarded.

In a recent case in Leeds County Court I spent two full days assessing the costs in a claim concerning the boundary between two properties. The damages awarded by the trial Judge were £2,500. The reason the assessment took so long in this extreme example was that the costs claimed were so high, in excess of £50,000.  On anybody’s reckoning that cannot be said to be value for money.

The test I have to apply is to ask whether the costs claimed were necessary and proportionate and it is not always a comfortable experience for the lawyers to have to justify their claims in court. The more cases like this I see, the more strongly I believe there is a real obligation on lawyers to be open and up-front with their clients about the likely costs in the case from the start. That obligation continues as the case unfolds and more information comes to light.

Harrison Drury has a clear objective in litigation cases to give clear costs indications and advice throughout the life of the claim.  In addition we are constantly looking for ways to limit our clients’ exposure to legal costs through innovative means, such as our Dispute Evaluation Report and our HR Compass protection scheme as we recognise that there are times when litigation is unavoidable.

Amanda Webster is a consultant at Harrison Drury Solicitors. If you have a legal question for Amanda contact her on 01772 258321