Mark Friston

Practice:

Mark practices in two areas: the law of costs and clinical negligence.

What others say:

Chambers and Partners 2009 has the following to say:  

"Mark Friston is 'up there with the best' and is 'evidence of the fact that you can get national quality work without being in London.' Having been in costs since before it was a specialism at the Bar, he is considered 'the man of the North' and is seen to be establishing Kings Chambers as a significant costs set. He now works exclusively on costs matters, mainly as an adviser ... Popular with clients, 'he will always go that extra mile for you.' ” 

According to the Legal 500 2007/8 , he is “the regional Bar’s specialist in legal costs litigation”.  

Previous editions of Chambers and Partners have described Mark as being "tremendously boned up on the technicalities", as having "complete stickability" (2007) and as being “a supremely forensic lawyer” (2008).

Profile:

Mark has a busy national practice in the law of costs.  

Whilst Mark enjoys the challenge of contentious work, an increasingly large part of his practice is non-contentious advisory work (such as advising on legal funding, retainers and regulatory matters). In so far as contentious work is concerned, Mark has particular expertise in the following areas: solicitor-and-client disputes; very high value between-the-parties costs; procedural issues; disputes concerning legal expenses insurance; and disputes concerning the indemnity principle.  

Mark’s emphasis is on client care and teamwork. He is happy to accept instructions from either solicitors or suitably qualified costs draftsmen.  

Mark is the only practising barrister to have taken the examination to become an associate of the Association of Law Costs Draftsmen (the results are awaited!)  

A significant part of Mark’s practice reflects the fact he is qualified in medicine and is a Member of the Royal College of Physicians. He has a particular interest in medical clinical negligence, but he also deals with surgical negligence (including orthopaedic and obstetric claims).

Significant Reported Cases and Publications:

Various Claimants v Gower Chemicals Ltd [2008] EWHC 366 (QB)
            (disclosure in detailed assessment proceedings)

Birmingham City Council v Crook [2007] EWHC 1415 (QB)
            (enforceability of conditional fee agreements)

Various Claimants v Gower Chemicals Ltd , Field J, 28 February 2007
            (enforceability of collective conditional fee agreements)

AB and Ors v British Coal Corporation [2006] EWCA Civ 987
            (success fees under a compensation scheme)

Jones v Caradon Catnic [2005] EWCA Civ 1821
            (concerning materiality and collective conditional fee agreements)

Spencer v Wood [2004] EWCA Civ 352
            (enforceability of conditional fee agreements)

Smiths Dock Ltd v Edwards [2004] EWHC 1116 (QB)
            (the quantum of success fees)

Mattel Inc v RSW Group PLC [2004] EWHC 1610 (Ch)
            (local versus London rates in intellectual property cases)

Lownds v Home Office [2002] 1 WLR 2450
            (guideline case on proportionality)

D v D [2002] 2 Costs L.R. 312
            (costs in "big money" family cases)

Ashworth v Peterborough United Football Club Ltd LTL 4 July 2002
            (recoverability of bespoke ATE insurance premium of £45k) 

Mark writes (along with other members of Kings Chambers) the Costs Brief for the New Law Journal. Recent articles include:  

  • Protective costs orders, New Law Journal (2008) Vol.158 No.7335 Pages 1223-1224
  • Beating offers, New Law Journal (2008) Vol.158 No.7323 Pages 782-783
  • Interest on Costs, New Law Journal (2008) Vol.158 No.7316 Pages 514-517
  • Costs draftsmen’s success fees, New Law Journal (2008) Vol.158 No.7307 Pages 216-217
  • Election, New Law Journal (2007) Vol.157 No.7288 Pages 1256-1257 and 1308-1309
  • Post-entitlement agreements, New Law Journal (2007) Vol.157 No.7278 Pages 890-891
  • Costs Capping, New Law Journal Vol.157 No.7269 Pages 546-548
  • Conduct and Costs, New Law Journal (2007) Vol.157 No.7259 Pages 216-217
  • Part 18 Requests in Costs, New Law Journal (2006) Vol.156 No.7251 Pages 1880-1881
  • Quantum of ATE premiums, New Law Journal (2006) Vol.156 No.7242 Pages 1471-1472
  • Avoidance and Costs, New Law Journal (2006) Vol.156 No.7239 Pages 1358-1359
  • Qualitative Breaches and CFAs, New Law Journal (2006) Vol.156 No.7236 Pages 1242-1243
  • Medical Agency Fees, New Law Journal (2006) Vol.156 No.7228 Pages 946-947
  • Costs Cutting, New Law Journal New Law Journal (2006) Vol.156 No.7223 Pages 737-739
  • Materiality, New Law Journal New Law Journal (2006) Vol.156 No.7219 Pages 592-593
  • Costs Draftsmen’s fees, New Law Journal (2006) Vol.156 No.7214 Pages 364-365
  • Estimates, New Law Journal . (2005) Vol.155 No.7202 Pages 1813-1815
  • CFA Revocation Regulations, New Law Journal New Law Journal (2005) Vol.155 No.7192 Pages 1347-1348
  • ATE insurance and the FSA, New Law Journal (2005) Vol.155 No.7189 Pages 1241-1242
  • RSA Pursuit, New Law Journal New Law Journal (2005) Vol.155 No.7185 Pages 1097-1099
  • Success, Conduct and Costs, New Law Journal . (2005) Vol.155 No.7181 Pages 939-941
  • Restricting the scope of split success fees, New Law Journal (2005) Vol.155 No.7177 Pages 765-766
  • Costs Capping, New Law Journal (2005) Vol.155 No.7176 Pages 749-751
  • VAT and Costs, New Law Journal (2005) Vol.155 No.7171 Pages 539-540
  • Qualitative Breaches, New Law Journal (2005) Vol.155 No.7167 Pages 377-378
  • Success Fees, New Law Journal (2005) Vol.155 No.7163 Pages 214-215 

Commissioned publications include:  

  • Medical Agency Fees and Rectification of Retainers (2006) ALCD Journal , July, Pages 1-3
  • Roles and responsibilities of medical expert witnesses BMJ , Aug 2005; 331: 305 - 306
  • New rules for expert witnesses BMJ , May 1999; 318: 1365 – 1366 

Conferences (as speaker) include: 

  • The annual meeting of the Association of Law Costs Draftsmen (2003 and 2009)
  • The Conditional Fee Agreements Conference (Sweet & Maxwell) (2007 and 2008)
  • The Annual Remuneration Conference of the Bar (2007)
  • The Manchester Law Society Costs Conference (2005, 2006, and 2007)
  • The European Society of Anaesthiology Annual Meeting (Munich) (2007) 

Recommendations & Memberships:

Recommended in costs (first ranked in Chambers since 2007).
Member of the Bar Council's conditional fee agreements committee.
Member of the Royal College of Physicians   

Career & Education:

Universities: 

Caius College, Cambridge (Medical Science Tripos) (1986)

The Royal London Hospital Medical College (1989)
Member of the Royal College of Physicians (1993)

University of Westminster (CPE) (1996)

Examination for associate memberships of the ALCD (2008) (results awaited)

Year of Call:

1997 (Middle Temple)

Joined Chambers:

2003 

 

Mark Friston

Year of Call:  1997

Specialises In:
Costs

Clerked by:
 Stephen Loxton

 

 

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