We are experiencing an odd recession, believes Taylor&Emmet’s Paul Clarke, as the results of the firm’s first litigation survey show some businesses are less affected than others.

The leading Sheffield solicitors have conducted research into local commercial litigation trends and found a lack of the usual credit crunch cases traditionally associated with an economic downturn.

Paul, a commercial litigation specialist at Taylor&Emmet, said: “It is generally accepted that when times are tough, there are more business disputes around. However, although we have been busy and there have been some very large cases, they have not necessarily stemmed from economic or financial hardship – more commonly, they have arisen out of the same commercial issues you see when times are good.

“We wanted to discover whether there were any obvious trends in business-to-business litigation that might give a clue to the state of the regional economy and explore local attitudes to commercial disputes. As funding for court proceedings is under government review, we also thought it would be interesting to ask what businesses thought about the costs of litigation.”

Taylor&Emmet canvassed the opinions of executive directors and in-house lawyers from businesses in South Yorkshire, North Derbyshire, North Nottinghamshire and South Humberside. They found the most prized attributes clients look for when choosing a litigation solicitor are knowledge, expertise and a record of success, whilst attitudes to the costs of litigation were surprisingly divided, with some considering them essential and others as irrelevant.

Compared to the costs of other legal services, just over half of respondents to the survey felt litigation fees were generally too high, yet less than half had been offered fixed fee options, such as Taylor&Emmet’s T&E Resolve funding package and fewer still had been offered commercial “no win, no fee” terms. 

Paul added: “When budgets are constantly under review, we have found that increasing the predictability of costs for commercial cases is attractive to clients. Litigation lawyers are generally reluctant to step outside of the hourly rate system and ‘put their money where their mouth is,’ but we want to prove that local firms like Taylor&Emmet are innovative and in tune with the market. We can provide real alternatives to the traditional litigation fee structure and our research has shown there is an appetite for this kind of development.”

For more information about Taylor&Emmet’s litigation services, or to take part in next year’s survey, contact Paul Clarke on (0114) 218 4000 or visit www.tayloremmet.co.uk