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The government is expected to announce on Thursday that the small claims limit will be doubled to £10,000, although the limit for personal injury cases will remain at £1,000, Legal Futures has learned. Extension of the RTA portal should also be part of the package.

The High Court has ordered a law firm to disclose the details of its funding arrangements with two clients so the successful defendants can work out whether the solicitors financially supported the cases and could be pursued for a third-party costs order.

Before-the-event legal expenses insurers cannot reject a policyholder’s choice of a non-panel solicitor because the lawyer will not accept payment on their rates, the High Court has ruled – and those rates are not the starting point in a costs assessment.

Lord Justice Jackson has urged an Association of Costs Lawyers working group looking at a new way of presenting solicitors’ costs to continue its work “with all due expedition”. It says costs should be presented by reference to ‘phases, tasks and activities’.

Solicitors cannot recover the cost of arranging conditional fee agreements and after-the-event insurance, the Court of Appeal ruled yesterday. The Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger also made a significant ruling on the application of proportionality.