Daniel Laking
Year of call: 2015
Daniel Laking was successful in achieving a reduction of over £13,000 to a costs bill on behalf of the client in a solicitor / own client assessment under the Solicitors Act 1974. He was instructed by Alistair Merchant of Kain Knight. The judge reduced the client's costs bill from over £14,000 to just £68.
The judge commented that the claimant "found itself decimated" after the hearing, having accepted several arguments on behalf of the paying client including:
The solicitors ultimately recovered less than 1% of their Bill of Costs. They were ordered to pay the costs of the detailed assessment on the indemnity basis.
The judge ordered the solicitors to obtain a transcript of the assessment hearing and send it to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
The case has been been reported by the Association of Costs Lawyers. The article is here.