The cat is out of the bag. Judges think costs budgeting is a waste of time. We always suspected it, but now we know it. Master Davison of the Queen’s Bench Division was ruling on whether or not to allow costs budgeting in a case on the asbestos list. He refused to do so, on the basis that there is a ‘firm convention’ that no asbestos list cases are subject to budgeting. And he added this bombshell: ‘QB masters, Chancery masters and costs judges do not necessarily share this defendant’s expressed confidence that costs budgeting controls costs better, or more effectively, than detailed assessment.’