When a partnership of solicitors was dissolved, the main asset was the work in progress comprised in substantial personal injury litigation being conducted, in effect, on a conditional fee basis. The question arose of how it could be valued. The court discarded foreign judgments which gave nil value to such assets for taxation purposes, and also the ‘realisation’ basis sometimes used in Britain. Instead the court had to assess the proportion of work which might prove successful, and to establish what proportion of the work had already been concluded, making allowance for the need for simplicity of calculation, the necessary inexactitude, and giving the benefit of any doubt to those who might complete the work.
Citations:
Times 24-Oct-2000
Company, Legal Professions
Updated: 18 May 2022; Ref: scu.78685