Cost and Fee Allocation in Civil Procedure

The volume describes and analyzes how the costs of litigation in civil procedure are distributed in key countries around the world. It compares the various approaches, draws general conclusions from that comparison, and presents global trends as well as common problems and solutions. In particular, the book deals with three principal questions: First, who pays for civil litigation costs, i.e., to what extent do losers have to make winners whole? Second, how much money is at stake, i.e., how expensive is civil litigation in the respective jurisdictions? And third, whose money is ultimately spent, i.e., how are civil litigation costs distributed through mechanisms like legal aid, litigation insurance, collective actions, and success oriented fees? Inter alia, the study reveals a general trend towards deregulation of lawyer fees as well as a substantial correlation between the burden of litigation costs and membership of a jurisdiction in the civil and common law families.

This study is the result of the XVIIIth World Congress of Comparative Law held under the auspices of the International Academy of Comparative Law.

• Changes of Success in Litigation
• Civil Procedure
• Comparative Law
• Cost Allocation
• Cost Fee Regimes in Civil and Common Law
• Cost and Fee Allocation in Civil Procedure
• Cost of Distribution Regimes
• Deciding to Fight in Court
• Diminishing Access to Justice
• Financial Burden of Litigation
• Law of Costs and Fees
• Litigation Costs
• Middle Class Litigants
• The Cost of Litigation
• Understanding Cost of Fee Allocation Rules
• Who is Being Denied Access to Justtice

From the reviews:

“There is a lack of expansive comparative analyses of the law of cost shifting and fee allocation across the world; Cost and Fee Allocation in Civil Procedure fills this gap. It is therefore compulsory reading for anyone studying the access to justice implications of cost allocation regimes. … an excellent starting point for those engaging in in-depth research in the area. … book is a pleasure to read and flows surprising smoothly for a book written by over 30 authors.” (Peter Dominick Scott, The University of Tasmania Law Review, Vol. 32 (2), 2013)

• , Law School, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

  Mathias Reimann

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