Saturday 23 October 2010

Case and costs management

Obviously,when i was a litigator i was without equal.Who else could attend on a Consent Order and lose? Exactly.
Well it happened again yesterday when i had the best legal fun sitting on the High Court bench with His Honour Judge Simon Brown QC in Birmingham as part of my new job monitoring case/costs management for Sir Rupert Jackson.
At the end of trial the parties agreed to ask for a stay for a year,pending the outcome of other proceedings.Simon Brown was having none of it.He chucked the parties out to agree the minimum quantum the winner was bound to get.20 minutes later he had made an award of £20,000 and resolved costs too in a sensible manner.In all seriousness i think that Judges ought to spend half a day watching how it is done.It calls for a simple knowledge of Part 1 of the CPR and commonsense.This man is exemplary.
I will spend a full day next month sitting and will then write my initial report.
I was on my best behaviour apart from a delirious moment when i wondered if i could pass the death sentence whilst on the bench .She had a lucky escape.