Lord Justice Jackson has sent the Lord Chancellor his response to the Ministry of Justice consultation paper on civil litigation funding and costs. The consultation closes on 14 February 2011.
The response and letter to the Lord Chancellor with related documents are below.
Background notes and chronology.
The previous Master of the Rolls (Lord Clarke) appointed Lord Justice Jackson to carry out a review of civil litigation costs during 2009. The terms of reference required Sir Rupert to review the rules and principles governing the costs of civil litigation and make recommendations to promote access to justice at proportionate cost. Sir Rupert was also asked to examine case management procedures and to compare the system in England and Wales with costs regimes in other jurisdictions.
Lord Justice Jackson published a comprehensive Preliminary Report on 8th May 2009.His Final Report on 14th January 2010 made 109 recommendations to tackle the problem of excessive costs. The Lord Chief Justice and the senior judiciary issued a strong endorsement of the report and supported the implementation of the package of reforms. On 29th January 2010 the Master of the Rolls established a Judicial Steering Group (JSG) to oversee implementation of the Final Report for those recommendations where the judiciary had lead responsibility.
The Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger, has asked Sir Rupert to take a pro-active role in relation to promoting the implementation of his recommendations, subject to the guidance of the JSG. Some of the recommendations are matters for the judiciary or other organisations; other recommendations require legislative reform and fall to Parliament to address.
Professor Paul Fenn
Professor Fenn is an economist at Nottingham University Business School. He served as an independent assessor for the Jackson Costs Review, and has produced some additional calculations on the impact of the proposed reforms to the award of damages in personal injury cases.
Senior Costs Judge (Peter) Hurst
SCJ Hurst is the Senior Costs Judge for England and Wales. Costs Judges are specialists who decide costs issues and disputes arising out of cases in the senior courts. SCJ Hurst was one of the panel of assessors for the Jackson review. He has personally endorsed Lord Justice Jackson’s response to the Government’s Costs Review consultation paper.
