Lord Justice Jackson sets out his two objectives in relation to this area of litigation as being to ensure that victims or clinical negligence have access to justice and that this huge area of public expense must be kept under proper control. That sounds sensible.......

Looking at the consultation and written submissions for Chapter 23 of the report, which deals with clinical negligence cases, the respective positions of the claimant and defendant representatives appear entirely entrenched - claimant and defendant lawyers repeating their well worn mantras without stopping for breath. So polarised are the views, that it is surprising to see even a measure of agreement that costs budgeting and effective case management might help to reduce the costs burden in the future.

Lord Justice Jackson makes it absolutely clear that too many cases have to be issued before settlement can be achieved. He recommends a number of practical measures which will reduce costs in these cases. There are also specific proposals about better case management and improving the costs management of clinical negligence cases.

In relation to the latter, the proposal to have a two year costs budgeting pilot for clinical negligence cases beginning this summer deserves special mention. There has, of course, already been a costs budgeting pilot at the Birmingham Technology and Construction Court and it is clear that the progress and outcome of these pilot studies will help to shape the future of all litigation, not just clinical negligence matters.

And so to costs budgeting which I will be thinking about over the course of the next week when I am away from the office on holiday and will be writing about soon ......