In the introduction to his 2015 annual report published last month, Lord Thomas, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, makes it clear that “our system of justice has become unaffordable to most.”
In the substance of his report, Lord Thomas makes a number of observations in the context of the costs of civil litigation. Many of those in practice will acknowledge that these observations reflect their day-to-day experience. They certainly reflect ours. They also stand as an important reminder of the central importance of costs to the litigation landscape in the UK today:
