Chris Dale begins his report Millnet offer £10,000 of e-Discovery services for free with Virgil’s phrase, “Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes” which is commonly, if loosely, translated as “beware of Greeks bearing gifts.”
If you have been abreast of recent economic developments, you will know that the Greeks are unlikely to be bearing any gifts for anyone just now. The poor things have been led by the nose ever since entry into the euro into believing that their Government can go on spending money without any idea how they are going to pay it back. We in this country should on no account be smug as our Government has been the most profligate ever and has racked up debts which will keep us all in hock for years to come.
Continue reading ‘Why look a gift horse in the mouth?’
What have the following in common?
- Britain’s forthcoming defence review.
- Jackie Fisher, First Sea Lord at the end of the 19th Century.
- John Terry, Chelsea and England footballer.
- Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus.
- The Royal Navy.
Answers on a postcard please! |
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Continue reading ‘Plan for peace, prepare for war’
Many readers (and we have had a dramatic increase since the start of the year) will recall that my modest hope for 2010 was that there would be more strategic thought during the litigation process than is often apparent when we are called in to assist.
Frankly, not a lot of strategic thought can be undertaken when the disclosure deadline is only days away and there is a terabyte of data to review and the other side has just produced more material than you thought possible or likely.
Of course, if you have plenty of time you can mull over strategy to your heart’s content but most litigation cases do not allow the participants that luxury!
So, how can you make time?
Continue reading ‘Readiness is next to godliness’
Fresh from the mauling the Chilcot inquisitors suffered recently at the hands of Tony Blair, the former PM would doubtless wish to offer a similarly spirited and robust defence of his 1996 speech when campaigning for the return of a Government of New Labour, in which he asserted that the three main priorities for government were: Education, Education, Education.
My recollection, on first hearing this speech, was that I thought immediately of the rather turgid 1970 film about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941, called “Tora. Tora, Tora”! Presumably this was because I did not take the content of the speech seriously enough and could only think of the film with a similarly three-worded title (which I believe means “Attack, Attack, Attack”)!
Now, 14 years after the speech and billions of pounds of investment later, some would argue that the priorities had not necessarily been achieved and might question whether the money had been put to good use.
Continue reading ‘Education, education, errm…’
In a judgement dated 26th January 2010 and running to more than 500 pages [BSkyb Ltd & Anor v HP Enterprise Services UK Ltd & Anor (Rev 1) [2010] EWHC 86 (TCC) (26 January 2010)] Mr Justice Ramsey accepted one of the five main claims by BSkyB against EDS in their long running dispute. As a result, BSkyB looks forward to an award of around £200 million at a damages hearing expected to take place later his month.
The limitation of liability clause in the contract did not help EDS in the end as the judge found the company guilty of deceit in making fraudulent misrepresentations to win the original contract. HP, now the owner of EDS, has indicated it intends to appeal.
Continue reading ‘Sky in the pie, EDS burns fingers’
Ingenuity is the most remarkable human trait. Without it, we would not have discovered how to make fire, how to fashion tools and how to manufacture things useful to our everyday lives. We learned to stand on our hind legs which made life easier for our ancestors. We can also invent things which make our lives easier.
The terrible disaster in Haiti which dominated the news in recent weeks is not something which humans can prevent, nor it seems, accurately predict. We can only react and often that reaction is neither pretty nor particularly effective, but those who try to alleviate the suffering in that small island must be applauded.
It was, therefore, with some relief that I alighted upon three news items which, amongst the doom and gloom, caused me to smile about the ingenuity of the human race at a time when at least parts of it are sunk in understandable despair.
Continue reading ‘Sticks and snails and shaggy dog’s tales’
A recent US case of a law firm suing a client contains a salutary lesson.
Debevoise & Plimpton had sued former client Candlewood for $6million in unpaid legal fees and found itself facing “an answer and counterclaim” seeking damages of $55million! [Ex-Debevoise Client Raises Nasty Counterclaims in Unpaid Bills Case, The American Lawyer, 14 January, 2010]
Apparently, some of Candlewood’s allegations against their former advisers were not too flattering which only goes to show that the publicity generated by this type of dispute is often publicity the law firm could well do without.
According to Candlewood’s counterclaim, D&P managed to bill for more than 15,000 hours or the equivalent of 10 lawyers working full time for the 10 month period in question, whereas Candlewood’s Delaware based lawyers successfully represented the company for two and a half years at a total cost of $450,000.
Could this happen in England?
Continue reading ‘David and Goliath’
Two matters caught my eye last weekend which I would like to share with readers of this blog.
The first was the announcement that former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, will give evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry on January 29th 2010. In particular, the former PM will face questions about his government’s use of intelligence which was later found to be flawed.
This blog is, of course, strictly apolitical, but the announcement that Tony Blair is to become only the third PM and the first Labour PM in modern times to face a public inquiry (Margaret Thatcher gave evidence to the Franks Inquiry set up after the Falklands War and Edward Heath gave evidence to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry) is certainly noteworthy and caused me to recall the debacle over weapons of mass destruction, as to which see more below.
Continue reading ‘Weapons of Mass Discovery’
Each of us will recognise a seminal moment in our personal and professional lives. In our personal lives these moments often relate to family: the birth of a child, a wedding or the death of a close family member or friend.
In our professional lives as lawyers it may be the day you qualify, the day you retire, the day you become a partner or the day you have your first big success in court or the boardroom.
In a wider sphere, lawyers may regard the property reforms of 1925 as a seminal moment in the development of the law, or the introduction of the Human Rights Act or the day you discover (if in fact you ever did!) that Lord Denning was not invented to be the curse of the law student for his controversial judgments but actually had something interesting to say about the law of estoppel.
Continue reading ‘Motherhood and apple pie’
Key recommendations from the Review of Civil Litigation Costs Final Report of Lord Justice Jackson, published 14th January, 2010
A resumé of the key recommendations may be found on page 463 of the 584 page report [click here to view the report in PDF format]. However, here is a selection of the most important ones:
- Success fees and ATE insurance premiums should cease to be recoverable.
- Increase in general damages to compensate.
- Referral fees should be disallowed.
- Qualified one way costs shifting ( i.e. losing claimant will not pay defendant’s costs but losing defendant will pay claimant’s costs). Continue reading ‘Jackson: key recommendations’
