Review of Solicitors Act and Costs Lawyer judges also on the agenda

The three-year simplified budgeting pilots set to start in April are among the major costs developments that practitioners need to prepare for in 2025, ACL chair Jack Ridgway said last week.
Calls for a formal review of the Solicitors Act 1974 are also likely to bear fruit.
The Civil Procedure Rule Committee has so far approved two budgeting pilots – for cases within the Business and Property Courts (BPC) and for certain other cases valued at under £1m – with work continuing on another one for cases involving qualified one-way costs shifting.
The BPC pilot is intended to cover the Rolls Building and at least two BPC district registries. It will also cover business and property work in the county court at the same district registries. Given the use of fixed costs on the intermediate track, it will mostly be High Court cases that are affected.
In a briefing sent to the media last week, Mr Ridgway said: “Costs budgeting is here to stay and these pilots will mark a new era in ensuring the process is proportionate to the type of litigation involved. Costs Lawyers will be at the forefront of making these pilots work as practitioners come to terms with new rules and forms.”
Other developments to look out for were:
- There is a current lacuna in the rules as to what costs apply for a claim valued up to £100,000 which settles prior to allocation, in this case to a particular band related to complexity. This was resolved by case law in claims for up to £25,000 under the previous fixed costs regime and we should expect a similar decision for intermediate track claims, says Jack.
- A formal review of the costs provisions of the Solicitors Act 1974 will be announced. The calls for review are near deafening and no one has suggested the Act should not be amended. A Civil Justice Council working party is currently looking at the Act but ultimately a full review and legislation will be required, undertaken either by the Ministry of Justice or Law Commission.
Mr Ridgway said: “Whether we will see the legislation make it in this Parliament is questionable, though – the Act needs a full re-write with its underlying principles also considered.” - We are hopeful that a statutory instrument will be laid allowing Costs Lawyers to become judges. “Given the Ministry of Justice’s ongoing push to improve judicial diversity, Costs Lawyers are a natural next step given that we are fully regulated lawyers with rights of audience, and many members are skilled advocates.
“However, the experience of CILEX lawyers suggests that it might initially be limited to roles in the county court and lower tribunals. This means we will not be able to apply for High Court positions, in particular the Senior Courts Costs Office (SCCO). I hope the Ministry of Justice would see sense in carving out a specific exemption allowing Costs Lawyers to sit in the SCCO.”
Mr Ridgway concluded: “I would also like to see action in the wake of last November’s ruling by Costs Judge James in the SCCO, where she highlighted the lack of recourse against an unregulated costs draftsman. This is an unacceptable and unnecessary gap in regulation, and I urge the Legal Services Board and Ministry of Justice to address it.”