Lord Jackson’s preliminary report on review of civil costs

Preliminary it may be, but short it isn’t! Still there are people better at speed reading than I and comments are already on various websites  – Bar Council, TimesOnline, Herbert Smith e-bulletin to name just a few google hits.
Lord Jackson himself said at the publication on 8 May ” The facts set out in the report have been gathered from many sources. They are not intended to support any particular conclusion. On the contrary, I hope to ascertain, with the assistance of the consultees, where those facts lead us.” He stressed that he had not formed a final view on any topic – in areas where he had formed a tentative opinion he had indicated this in the report, and invited people to respond and set out their own views.
The Media Release page gives some indication of contents – the report is available online in 12 separate pdfs as below
Part One Introduction – divided into four chapters 1)The Civil Justice Costs Review 2)Scheme of this Preliminary Report 3) Cost Rules and Cost Wars 4)The role of the civil courts.
Part Two The Basic Facts  divided into chapters 5) How much civil litigation is there? 6)The broader picture 7)Court Fees 8) What do lawyers earn?
Part Three Research Consultation and investigations re costs 
Part Four The funding of civil litigation 
Part Five Fixed Costs 
Part Six Personal injuries litigation
Part Seven Some specific types of litigation
Part Eight Controlling the costs of litigation
Part Nine Regimes where there is no cost shifting
Part Ten The assesment of costs
Part Eleven Review of costs regimes in other jurisdictions
Part Twelve Conclusion with annexes, appendices