Quick on Costs
Quick on Costs is a key resource for the law of costs in Australia. Over the last few years the authors Roger Quick and Liz Harris, with assistance from David Garnsworthy, have undertaken an immense revision of the service with the aim that it will (1) provide an overview of the principles and practice of the law of costs in Australia, (2) state the law for Australian readers, who are engaged in the practice of the law as to costs, and (3) to recognise that the primary interest of some will be their relationship with the client whilst the interests of others will be with costs as between the parties to proceedings.
The service has received recent accolades.
An article published by Justinian in March 2016 titled “The failure to rein in rapacity” by Richard Ackland (which refers heavily to John Briton’s paper Between the idea and the reality falls the shadow) discusses the adequacy of the legal professions’ regulatory regime. A comment by Roger Quick posted below the article picks up and delves further into the disparity between expectations the legal profession legislation puts on lawyers in their dealings with consumers compared to the Australian Consumer Laws expectations of other service providers.
John Briton in the short version of his paper released 4 December 2015 refers to Quick on Costs under his section on the framework for testing the fairness of costs agreements.
It is great to see the consistent use of Quick on Costs as both an informative resource and an instigator for debate and discussion relating to the law of costs as it evolves in Australia. The revision of the service, already well under way, aims to maintain the status of Quick on Costs as an authoritative source in the legal services industry.
For the full articles referred to, see below.
Justinian article by Richard Ackland
The failure to rein in rapacity
15 March 2016
http://www.justinian.com.au/featurettes/the-failure-to-rein-in-rapacity.html
Presented by John Briton at The Australian and New Zealand Legal Ethics Colloquium’s 5th bi-annual meeting
Between the idea and the reality falls the shadow
4 December 2015
