A High Court Judge has expressed dismay at a case where the husband and wife spent £2.3 million on legal costs, but the net assets were only £1.7 million. This is not the first time that the long running dispute between Mr and Mrs Crowther has attracted negative attention.
The judge stated that “The only beneficiaries of this nihilisitc litgation have been the specialist and high quality lawyers”. It will not cheer the solicitors and barristers in question to be described as “high quality” when the judge criticised both their “unseemly” correspondence, and also how the litigation was conducted. Both the solicitors’ firms and barristers are named in the judgment.
So, who is responsible for keeping disputes in proportion? The answer is, everyone. Judges, in highlighting cases like this are giving a warning to parties and practitioners alike. Lawyers need to give blunt advice to clients about the consequences of pursuing litigation in a certain way, and solicitors need to correspond constructively. Good, civil communication between solicitors is likely to benefit their clients, making settlement easier to achieve. Finally, parties themselves need to be willing to compromise, to remember that litigation is risky and to be prepared to put as much effort into finding solutions as the Crowthers did into their “battle”.
