Jackson good for claimant costs lawyers?

Writing in the December issue of Costs Lawyer, the journal of the Association of Law Costs Draftsmen of which he is president, Mathew Harman argued that the proposals may actually prove to be positive for claimant costs lawyers. Apart from the traditional work which will remain for the time being, but without arguments about after-the-event premiums and success fees, there will be a rise in solicitor/own client challenges. He continued: ‘If the client is going to be asked to pay a success fee of up to 25% of the general damages, there is almost certainly going to be a rise in arguments over the assessment of that fee. Who will advise the client of their rights? Us. Who will help the solicitors recover their fees? Us. ‘The only issue is that market forces will lead to competition amongst lawyers and may even lead to the situation where solicitors will do the work without claiming any element of the recovered damages. Even then I can see work for cost lawyers, as the public at large have got used to the concept of not paying anything for their legal representation and expect to recover 100% of their damages. That perception may change over time but there will be resistance in the early days.’