CLSB urges Costs Lawyers to do pro bono work
The Costs Lawyer Standards Board (CLSB) is encouraging all Costs Lawyers to allocate “a portion of their professional time” to providing pro bono services.
Issuing a guidance note on pro bono work to mark National Pro Bono Week, the regulator said: “This is not a regulatory obligation, but a voluntary way of using your unique and privileged position of being a lawyer to give back to the community and improve access to justice. Pro bono work can also increase job satisfaction and help you expand your networks.”
To complement this, the CLSB has also updated its guidance note on vulnerable consumers.
Wellington fronts new opt-out collective action
CLSB chief executive Kate Wellington – who works part-time – has been named as the representative claimant in a new opt-out collective action being brought against price comparison website ComparetheMarket on behalf of more than 20 million home insurance customers.
It follows the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) finding last year that ComparetheMarket breached competition law in relation to contracts with 32 insurers listing on its website which meant they could not offer consumers lower prices on other comparison websites.
The CMA found that consumers who purchased home insurance via a price comparison website were likely to have paid higher prices as a result.
ComparetheMarket’s appeal against the CMA’s decision began in the Competition Appeal Tribunal on Monday, the same day Ms Wellington’s claim was issued, which she said was to protect class members’ rights to redress in the meantime. She said she would ask the tribunal to stay the claim pending the appeal’s outcome.
Ms Wellington, a solicitor and director of Home Insurance Consumer Action Ltd, said: “Price comparison websites should play an important role in allowing consumers to make informed pricing decisions.
“Unfortunately, ComparetheMarket’s anti-competitive conduct achieved the opposite of this and looks likely to have increased prices of home insurance for over 20 million UK consumers.”
She has instructed class action specialist firm Hausfeld & Co, while litigation funder Augusta Ventures is backing the claim. Josh Holmes QC of Monckton Chambers, Tristan Jones of Blackstone Chambers, Ciar McAndrew and Antonia Fitzpatrick, both of Monckton Chambers, have been instructed too.
Ms Wellington is also on a committee advising another representative claimant, Mark McLaren, who is bringing a collective action against five shipping companies whose cartel is alleged to have led to increased delivery costs for car buyers.