GHR review moves closer
A group of senior judges is considering a review of the guideline hourly rates “as a matter of urgency”, it has emerged.
There is growing pressure to revise the rates – which have been in place since 2010 – in the wake of comments by Mrs Justice O’Farrell’s last year in Ohpen that there were unsatisfactory, not helpful and out-of-date.
The ACL has called for a review after a member survey said it was needed urgently, as the GHR were doing more harm than good.
Speaking at December’s meeting of the Civil Procedure Rule Committee, minutes of which have just been published, chair Lord Justice Coulson explained that the civil executive team was “actively considering this matter as a matter of urgency, with a short report to follow”.
The team was set up in 2016 to support the Master of the Rolls in overseeing civil justice and implementing court modernisation.
The next step would be to decide whether this was something for the CPRC to consider, “possibly with outside advice/assistance”, or whether it was more appropriate for the Civil Justice Council to look at it. This would be a decision for the Master of the Rolls, Sir Terence Etherton.
Yorkshire meet-up
The next meeting of the Yorkshire ACL Regional Costs Group is on Thursday 5 March. Hosted by Clarion Solicitors in Leeds from 5pm, members will discuss current costs issues and recent case law developments. The event is free to attend, but places must be booked via the ACL website.
Clarification
Tracyanne Ayliffe has asked us to point out that she resigned as a director of the Costs Lawyer Standards Board, rather than her term expiring, as we incorrectly reported earlier this month.