The claims consultant in this case collected compliments galore from the court on her know-how: she is top-quality when it comes to providing legal services in her conduct of litigation. The snag comes, as it did here, when the person “doing her stuff” is not entitled to do so. She found herself at the thick end of an application to commit her to prison! It is contempt of court. This recent case is Baxter vs Doble [2023] in the High Court. I will tell you more in a moment. 

A few years ago a very competent construction claims consultant got into choppy water in a similar way. His client had a good claim for payment arising out of an adjudication some time previously. It was an M&E subcontract award for a lump of money. The consultant served a claim form in the High Court and filed particulars of claim. Solicitors on the receiving end shouted “foul”. The papers were in apple-pie order, but the pushback said that the documents were invalid and ineffective because they were served by a barrister, or rather, an unregistered barrister. In which case, said the complainant to the court, the flaw was the status of the person serving the court forms. Being an unregistered barrister meant that he was “only” a consultant, or ordinary everyday bloke, and as such not permitted by the Legal Services Act 2007 to “carry out a reserved legal activity”.

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