This was considered by the Court of Appeal in Sibthorpe and Morris where it was held that a CFA under which a solicitor indemnified its clients against adverse costs was legal. In that case, the solicitors had taken on the risk of adverse costs orders to enable the client to pursue a claim. In this

The starting point is that once there is a litigation friend acting on behalf of a party then they cannot be displaced by someone else also wishing to be a litigation friend. However, the Court may make an order changing or removing a litigation friend. The power to do so is set out in CPR 21.7: (1) The court may— (a) direct that a person may not act as a litigation friend; (b) terminate a litigation friend’s appointment; or (c) appoint a new litigation friend in substitution for an existing one. As can be seen this rule also extends to the removal of a litigation friend and it would apply whether the litigation friend was appointed by a Court order or not. When to make an application CPR 21.7 would apply where the litigation friend no longer wanted to act or the Court considered that the present litigation

Personal Injury Trusts (PIT) are utilised by claimants with capacity, to protect means-tested benefits to which they are presently entitled; or to avoid the lump-sum award from being taken into account when assessing means for statutory assistance, for example from a local authority. A PIT may also provide professional assistance to those who may require it to manage a large lump sum; and professional protection of the funds of those who may be otherwise vulnerable. Are the costs of PIT ordinarily recoverable from the defendant? Save for some exceptions set out below, the answer from a practical perspective is no: the courts are unlikely to award the costs of setting up or managing a trust

One of the conditions regulating settlement agreements is that the agreement must be in writing. For further information, see Practice Note: Settlement agreements in employment—legal requirements. ‘Writing’ includes typing, printing, lithography, photography and other modes of representing or reproducing words in a visible form. There is no specific requirement, eg in section 203 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, as to signature. Contract law principles provide that for a contract to exist, four key elements must be present: • an offer must have been made • that offer must have been accepted • valuable consideration must be given for the promises

For information on when the collective redundancy consultation obligations are triggered, see Practice Note: Collective redundancy—the triggers for the statutory consultation obligations. Under section 193 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULR(C)A 1992), an employer proposing to dismiss as redundant 20 or more employees at one establishment within a period of 90 days or less is obliged to notify the Secretary of State for the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Energy (BEIS). For further information, see the section of Practice Note: Collective redundancy—statutory information and consultation obligations entitled ‘Obligation to notify BEIS’. Notification must be made by sending a completed Form HR1 to the Insolvency Service Redundancy Payments Service, which acts on behalf of BEIS:

This Q&A assumes that the contract of retainer was not intended to be a conditional fee agreement (CFA) or a damages-based agreement (DBA). The need for a written retainer generally On its most basic analysis, a solicitor’s retainer with their client (retainer) is a simple contract. It is trite that most contracts do not need to be committed to writing to be enforceable, and a retainer is generally no different. The only retainers which do need to be in writing to be enforceable are CFAs (pursuant to section 58(3) of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 (CLSA 1990)) and DBAs (per CLSA 1990,

It is common for the tenant's solicitor to swear the statutory declaration on the tenant's behalf. A tenant’s solicitor who proposes to do this should obtain the tenant’s written authorisation to do so first. In

In answering this Q&A, we refer to you to the Practice Note: Validity of Wills—signature, which explains the formalities in respect of signing and witnessing a Will. There is no restriction on an executor witnessing the Will as long as neither the executor nor their spouse or civil partner is a beneficiary of the Will. Where

There are three different scenarios in which this question may arise, being: • where a firm of solicitors recovers the debt through litigation without instructing external solicitors • where a firm of solicitors instructs one of its members, partners or directors personally to recover the debt through litigation, or • where a sole practitioner seeks to recover the debt but does not instruct their firm to act in the proceedings Taking each in turn: A firm of solicitors represents itself It is commonplace for firms of solicitors to effectively instruct themselves to recover debts (or, indeed, to act in any other type of litigation in which the firm might be involved). In these circumstances, the principle in Re Eastwood would apply. Work done by lawyers who are employees of a litigant is exempt from the indemnity principle. It

Statutory declarations A statutory declaration is a solemn verification of fact made otherwise than for judicial proceedings (section 7 of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835 (SDA 1835)). In the absence of a contrary intention, the expression ‘statutory declaration’ in any Act means a declaration made by virtue of the SDA 1835 (section 5, Schedule 1 to the Interpretation Act 1978). Statutory declarations are typically used where it is deemed necessary to have the sworn evidence

The application for a witness summons to commence a private prosecution brought under section 6(1) of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 is made under Criminal Procedure Rules 2020 (CrimPR), SI 2020/759, r 7.2(6) and section 1 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980. See Practice Note: Private prosecutions—an introductory guide. An application for a summons can be made by a prosecutor or by a person authorised on their behalf. The application should be made by an individual and not by an unincorporated association such as a police force. See: CrimPR, SI 2020/759, r 46.1. Pursuant to

There does not appear to be any requirement for a notice given under section 5 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (LTA 1987) to be signed at all. Therefore, it would not appear relevant whether, if signed, the signature is by an agent such as a solicitor. LTA 1987, s 54 deals with notices generally under the LTA 1987 and provides that notices must be in writing