In the game – will new rules on success fees see litigators take a gamble?

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Three years after the Jackson review, reforms to litigation costs have finally arrived. But one change in particular, damages-based agreements, has polarised disputes lawyers. Can contingency fees work in mainstream commercial litigation?

When Lord Justice Jackson completed his year-long review of costs in civil litigation in January 2010 he proposed, in his words, ‘a coherent package of interlocking reforms, designed to control costs and promote access to justice’.

Continue reading “In the game – will new rules on success fees see litigators take a gamble?”

Clyde & Co advises Olswang on claim arising from £460m Esporta sale

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Clyde & Co’s professional financial disputes team led by rated team head Sarah Clover is advising Olswang on a multi-million pound claim stemming from the £460m acquisition by a Halabi family trust of fitness club chain Esporta from private equity firm Duke Street Capital.

Olswang in 2006 fielded a cross-disciplinary team to advise the Ironzar III trust on the high-profile acquisition, led by corporate partners Graham Barber and David Roberts.

The fitness group fell into financial difficulty and was placed into financial administration in 2007, taken over by its lender Societe Generale in a debt-for-equity-swap in 2009 and in 2011 Virgin Active acquired its 55 sites for £77.6m. Continue reading “Clyde & Co advises Olswang on claim arising from £460m Esporta sale”

All or nothing: Only a handful of DBAs entered into as confusion reigns over hybrid model

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‘It’s an extraordinary thing – hundreds of lawyers should have entered into Damages-Based Agreements (DBAs) by now.’

So says Leslie Perrin, former managing partner and senior partner of Osborne Clarke who is now chairman of litigation funding group Calnius Capital, with around £40m of capital to invest in litigation.

Instead, DBAs, which came into force under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 and entitle a lawyer to claim a percentage of their client’s damages by way of fees, have failed to take off at all and Perrin adds: ‘The confusion around the regulations has been such that I don’t think more than a handful of DBAs have been entered into all across the country. Continue reading “All or nothing: Only a handful of DBAs entered into as confusion reigns over hybrid model”

SFO to recruit 10 more barristers in defence of Tchenguiz brothers multi-million pound claim

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The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is to recruit an additional 10 junior barristers to join the team involved in the defence of the multi-million damages claims brought by the Tchenguiz brothers.

Last year property tycoons Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz sued the SFO for more than £200m after the agency made serious mistakes in its investigation of their role in the collapse of Icelandic bank Kaupthing, of which they were executives. Continue reading “SFO to recruit 10 more barristers in defence of Tchenguiz brothers multi-million pound claim”

Travers Smith suffers defeat for pregnancy dismissal

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Top 50 City firm Travers Smith has suffered the rare public reverse of losing a high-profile discrimination case after a tribunal found the firm denied a former trainee a place in the firm because she became pregnant.

The Central London Employment Tribunal found that Travers ‘contrived to prevent Katie Tantum from being offered a post as a newly-qualified solicitor because of her pregnancy’, according to a statement by Tantum’s solicitors, Leigh Day.

Continue reading “Travers Smith suffers defeat for pregnancy dismissal”

Bercow guilty of libel over ‘innocent face’ tweet

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Users of social media took careful note today as the High Court ruled that a tweet published by Sally Bercow about Tory peer Lord McAlpine was libellous.

In November the former Conservative Party treasurer was wrongly linked by BBC Newsnight to a child sex abuse case at Bryn Estyn children’s home in the 1970s and 80s, following which the wife of Commons Speaker John Bercow wrote: ‘Why is Lord McAlpine trending? *Innocent face*’. Continue reading “Bercow guilty of libel over ‘innocent face’ tweet”

Travers Smith in surprise discrimination defeat

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Top 50 City firm Travers Smith has suffered the rare public humiliation of losing a high profile discrimination case after a tribunal found the firm denied a former trainee a place in the firm because she had fallen pregnant.

The Central London Employment Tribunal found that Travers ‘contrived to prevent Katie Tantum from being offered a post as a newly qualified solicitor because of her pregnancy’, according to a statement by Tantum’s solicitors, Leigh Day & Co. Continue reading “Travers Smith in surprise discrimination defeat”

Quinn’s global master plan – elite disputes shop hits HK for third foreign launch of the year

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Having only launched its first foreign office in 2008, US disputes leader Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan clearly now has the taste for foreign expansion. The latest stop on its global tour is Hong Kong, with the ultra-profitable litigation shop today (15 May) unveiling details of its long-awaited local launch, coming only days after it sealed a deal to enter the Australian legal market. Continue reading “Quinn’s global master plan – elite disputes shop hits HK for third foreign launch of the year”

Commerzbank loses bankers’ bonuses appeal

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Commerzbank has today (26 April) lost its appeal in its high-profile four-year battle over unpaid bankers’ bonuses – one of the largest cases against a bank to run since the credit crunch.

Represented by Linklaters, Germany’s second largest bank will have to pay €52m to 104 London-based bankers, unless it obtains leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Continue reading “Commerzbank loses bankers’ bonuses appeal”