Funding, fixed fees, delegation, mediation and costs delays were on delegate’s minds in a very busy two days at the conference. Below is a summary of the numerous discussions we had at the conference.
The importance of funding – the strongest level of interest and feedback was regarding funding – definitely a current driver for those law firms contemplating changing their ATE insurance provider. Information about Temple Disbursement Funding was therefore much in demand and many quite detailed questions were being asked and discussions taking place.
Fixed fees – we sensed frustration that the fixed fee cost regime is not finalised; yet at the same time no one wants to ‘rock the boat’, with most delegates at present being happy with the status quo. Apparent among delegates was an optimistic consensus that their law firms would be able to run a viable business notwithstanding the proposed changes.
Backlog in costs payments – frustration was also voiced by many about the two so-called ‘October’ cases which the Paying Party are citing at every instance for a stay in cost proceedings; disappointingly the rulings were not felt to be imminent when the discussions took place in early October. The view was that this is creating, not unsurprisingly, a large backlog in costs payments waiting on the outcome of these rulings. Proportionality rulings on costs were a niggling concern, even on lower end multi-track cases.
Delegated Authority schemes – we provided a lot of information about our ATE/litigation insurance products, including explaining how specialist clinical negligence law firms are able to run fully delegated ATE insurance schemes with integrated disbursement funding.
ADR for clinical negligence – the issue of mediation for medical accident claims seemed on the back burner for some delegates, but we feel developments are inevitable resulting from The Civil Justice Council’s imminent publication of their final report on ADR and clinical negligence.
If you have a view on any of the above topics that you would like to discuss with us, please contact Matthew Best, our Underwriting Manager in the Personal injury & clinical negligence team via email to matthew.best@temple-legal.co.uk or call 01483 577877. We look forward to hearing from you.
Matthew Best Cert CII
Head of Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence
01483 514804
Matthew Best Cert CII
Matt has an insurance background and joined Temple in 2011 having worked for 4 years in a leading insurance company where he was dealing with personal injury work. Matthew was promoted to Underwriting Manager and subsequently Senior Underwriting Manager taking on overall responsibility for Temple’s personal injury and clinical negligence underwriting department.
In 2022 Matt joined the board of directors as Director of ATE Partnerships. Matthew has cultivated fantastic relationships with our business partners for many years. His ability to build a clear understanding of their requirements and more importantly what is required to fulfil such requirements means he is ideally placed to support the strategic direction of the company.
Matt remains the head of the personal injury and clinical negligence department and is committed to all Temple’s business partners in order to deliver the highest level of service they expect. He is also responsible in making sure that Temple’s ATE and disbursement funding products remain competitive, but most importantly that they are fit for purpose for solicitors and their clients.
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