The government’s Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, which (among other things) implements key aspects of the Jackson reforms, yesterday received Royal Assent and so has become law. The changes being introduced under the Act include:
- removing the restrictions on contingency fees or “damages-based agreements” (DBAs) for civil litigation;
- abolishing the recoverability of conditional fee agreement (CFA) success fees and after the event (ATE) insurance premiums; and
- introducing additional sanctions for defendants who fail to accept a claimant’s reasonable Part 36 offer to settle.
These provisions are expected to come into force in April 2013.
