A working party is being put together by the Civil Justice Council (CJC) to examine the technicalities of civil litigation reform.

Experts will attempt to thrash out practical proposals to follow up on measures planned by the government following the review of litigation costs by Lord Justice Jackson (pictured).

The implementation of secondary legislation will focus on areas such as qualified one-way costs shifting, and the introduction of an additional sanction or reward under Part 36 out of court settlements.

The working party, chaired by Berrymans' head of policy development Alistair Kinley, will also examine the detail of the proportionality test, and look at examples of when the test should not be applied.

The CJC stressed that the working party will not revisit the government’s original policy objectives, but will instead propose how to operate new rules by the end of September.

Claimant and defendant solicitors - from all key civil law areas affected by the proposals - will then have their chance to give feedback at a workshop expected to take place in October.

Further working party members will be nominated in the coming weeks by the CJC, and agreed by the Ministry of Justice. It will include representatives from all areas of civil litigation.

In a report published last year, Jackson made 109 recommendations, including reform of conditional fee agreements and contingency fees. The government has chosen to take on most of his proposals, arguing it will lead to significant cost savings whilst still enabling those who need access to justice to obtain it.