In-House Lawyers

Maes Finance Ltd v W G Edwards & Partners (CLW 21 July QBD)

There is no compelling reason for departing from the principle that the costs of a party represented by a salaried solicitor should be treated as if they were the costs of an independent solicitor. (In Re Eastwood (Deceased) ([1975] Ch 112). Accordingly it is not wrong to assess the costs charged by an in-house lawyer on the same basis as a solicitor in private practice; the indemnity principle did not require that an assessment should be solely by reference to the costs actually incurred.