The Lawyer February 11 2002
By Brendan Malkin
Lawyers ordered to disclose costs
Litigation lawyers face having to disclose details of
their cots evaluations to the losing party after a recent landmark ruling. In
his judgement in Dickinson v Rushmer, Mr Justice Rimmer stated:” I can see no
good reason why the client care letter and the payment calculation could not
have been disclosed to the defendant, as I have not been persuaded they were
privileged.”
Costs experts say that at the most extreme, this may lead
to discrepancies, being exposed due to disclosure between costs shown to
clients and the bill of costs lodged at court. They also envisage that those
liable for costs will request disclosure before court or when considering a
settlement that may influence how they process with the case.
Cost payers may have grounds for
refusing to pay costs if the other side has not done sufficient due diligence
to ensure that costs for hiring counsel and expert witnesses are reasonable.
Legal costs consultant Jim
Diamond said:” One third of all costs in litigation go to barristers and expert
fees. If {a party} can get the letter of retainer we can find out if those fees
are reasonable. This shows the way a party carried out due diligence for
clients.” Diamond, a costs consultant for some 20 years believes not disclosing
means that those facing financial liability for costs may be at risk of being
denied the right to a fair trial under Article 6 of the Human Rights Act.
All this is a sea of change for
costs negotiators and consultants who remember back to a decade ago, when some
firms, particularly in the City, were reluctant to provide a proper breakdown
of their costs, even to their own client.
Diamond said:” if you’re a big
city firm doing special rates for clients, the last thing you want to do is
give that information to another law firm. Ten years ago, City firms would not
even make out their own rates to their own clients. Now you could order a
print-out to see if your lawyer’s estimates match with the bill of costs.”
