MoR not concerned ahead of fixed costs extension

The fixed costs extension is going to ‘change the landscape’ of civil justice when it comes into force in October - but should not have a negative effect on access to justice, the master of the rolls has forecast.

Speaking to the House of Commons justice committee yesterday, Sir Geoffrey Vos dismissed some critics’ suggestions that the extension for most claims valued up to £100,000 would make it more difficult for some people to find representation.

The rules are now finalised and signed off ahead of the extension being implemented from 1 October, with firms spending the summer revising their models to ensure this work is still profitable.

‘[The extension] is going to be a big change that will take time to bed in,’ Vos told MPs. ‘I think it is going to be a good thing and I hope it works.

‘As lawyers we tend to think [of] that really difficult case which was worth only £50,000 but it was of singular importance to everybody and couldn’t possibly have been done within a fixed recoverable costs limit. The answer is then you will go to court and say "this is a special case and there are special reasons".

‘I don’t see it should affect access to justice provided it is properly used and provided there are proper safeguards as I expect there to be.’

Vos predicted a fall in the number of interlocutory hearings on costs as there will be fewer disputes once the fixed costs regime is extended.

He was also asked about the prospects for reform of the Solicitors Act 1974 and sought to dampen hopes of imminent change, saying this was a ‘very complex question’.

Vos himself said in the Belsner judgment last November that the whole court process of assessment of solicitors’ bills in contentious and non-contentious business ‘requires careful review and significant reform’.

Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974 is divided into three sections for non-contentious business, contentious business and remuneration – general. Vos said in Belsner that the distinction between contentious and non-contentious costs was ‘outdated and illogical’ and ‘in urgent need of legislative attention’.

Vos told MPs he still believed it was time for a review but it was unclear what the process would be and it would need the cooperation of the profession.

‘I think it is urgent but we don’t have the capacity to change everything at once,’ he said. ‘It is a long term project because it has to be done right – it is a generational issue.’

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