Martyn McLeish and Andrew Buchan discuss Civil Litigation Reform

Written by Cloisters

Martyn McLeish

Andrew Buchan

In this podcast Andrew Buchan talks to Martyn McLeish about civil litigation reform.

Martyn is a Vice Chairman of the Bar Council Remuneration Committee and is on the Executive Committee of the Personal Injuries Bar Association. In this podcast he discusses the legacy of the reforms to the Civil Procedural Rules in 1997, the reforms associated with Sir Rupert Jackson, including LASPO and fixed costs, and the further reforms currently being considered by the Civil Procedure Rules Committee for implementation in Spring 2023. In the podcast Martyn reflects on his experience of representing the Bar in various consultations, and in particular highlights the significant failure of successive governments to update fixed costs or have a proper process in place for updating fees.

Here are links to the various papers Martyn refers to in this podcast:

• The Bar Council and PIBA, “Fixed Recoverable Costs in Civil Cases: the Bar’s Case for Reform”

• Bar Council Response to Consultation on One-Way Costs Shifting

• Bar Council Response to Consultation on Extending Fixed Recoverable Costs: how vulnerability is addressed

• Bar Council Response to Consultation on Fixed Recoverable Costs in Clinical Negligence Claims

• Bar Council’s Evidence to the Health and Social Care Committee’s Consultation on NHS Litigation Reform

• House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee’s Report on NHS Litigation Reform

• The Master of the Rolls, Sire Geoffrey Vos, “The Future for Dispute Resolution; Horizon Scanning”

• The CJC Consultation on Civil Costs: the consultation has been extended from 30.09.22 to 14.10.22