19 January 2016
A review of the Scottish Government's consultation on the Expenses and Funding Litigation Bill.
The analysis of the Scottish Government’s Consultation on the Expenses and Funding of Litigation Bill was published in August 2015. The Consultation sought views on Sheriff Principal Taylor’s recommendations in respect of Damages Based Agreements, Speculative Fee Arrangements and Qualified One-Way Costs Shifting. It also considers certain issues highlighted by Lord Gill in the Scottish Civil Courts Review such as Multi-party Actions and the Auditor of the Court. Finally, the Consultation considered a number of outstanding matters related to Expenses and the Funding of Civil Litigation such as Counsel’s Fees, the Conduct of Legal Representatives, Legal Aid for Legal Persons and the Funder of Last Resort.
Reponses to the Consultation were varied and, in total, 40 responses were received. These came from solicitor firms and solicitors’ organisations, the insurance industry, local authorities, court auditors and medical defence organisations amongst various other bodies and individuals.
The Bill was not included in the legislative programme for 2015/2016. The Scottish Government have indicated that they hope to be able to introduce the Bill early in the next session of parliament.
This has allowed the Government to introduce an additional step in the consultation process to “develop our proposals and to assess their potential impact and cost”. To assist in that exercise, the Government have set up an impact reference group to assess the impact of the proposed changes being introduced by the Bill.
The Government have produced a further paper setting out the provisions they propose, a rough assessment of the likely impact on particular groups and some questions relating to the potential impact and costs of implementing the core proposals for the Bill. Initial responses are invited by 29 January 2016, although the Government have indicated that they anticipate issuing further papers inviting views on additional matters as they arise. They are also likely to seek views on proposals still being developed and not covered in the initial paper e.g. Multi-party Actions and the Auditor of Court.
BTO are actively involved as part of the impact reference group and will provide further updates throughout the additional consultation process.
Conctact: Jennifer Mackenzie, Associate jmk@bto.co.uk T: 0141 221 8012