If the Court of Appeal was concerned with ratings – which it clearly is not – then cases involving solicitors’ fees would appear to be a winner.

Last month’s hearing of CAM Legal Services v Belsner drew 2,300 views in the first five days on the court’s YouTube channel. A further 1,000 viewed the aborted hearing on the second day of the case.

Whilst arguments over the detail of CFAs and success fees might not seem to be a big draw, those figures put the case straight into the top 10 of the Court of Appeal’s all-time most watched, since the channel began three years ago. Indeed, Belsner was just the eighth case out of hundreds broadcast to have passed 2,000 views – and all in such a short space of time.

But there is some way to go before the costs dispute reaches behemoth levels of other high-profile cases. Currently the top three is made of the Duchess of Sussex’s claim against Associated Newspapers (27,000), the Delve v DWP dispute over women’s state pension age (29,000) and the biggest ratings winner of all, [Johnny] Depp v News Group Newspapers, which has amassed 33,000 views.

Spare a thought, too, for Lauzikas v The Secretary of State for the Home Department, where the applicant challenged the legality of his immigration detention. Only 114 clicks in two years.

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