High Court: Senior Courts Costs Office judgments, 2023

Inquest costs may be recoverable under a civil costs order where they are of and incidental to the civil claim. However, the statutory disapplication of the…

For the Litigator’s Graduated Fees Scheme, electronically served prosecution material that never existed in paper form is not automatically included in the…

Under a conditional fee agreement containing an overall cap on the client’s liability for costs, the cap applies where the solicitor elects to await the…

For electronic prosecution evidence, the page count for a graduated criminal legal aid fee must reflect material sufficiently important to require the…

When assessing criminal legal aid remuneration, enhancement and reasonable time must be determined by the nature and importance of the work, not by the grade…

Advocates’ graduated fees are calculated mechanistically by the offence bands, rather than by the seriousness of the individual case. Where an offence is…

Where prior authority has been obtained for a criminal legal aid disbursement, the determining officer must apply the protections in regulation 17 of the…

For criminal legal aid remuneration, the existence of multiple indictments does not by itself establish multiple cases or entitle solicitors to multiple…

For the Litigators’ Graduated Fee Scheme, electronically served evidence that never existed in paper form may be included in the Pages of Prosecution Evidence…

Where an original electronic download and a translated or annotated version contain the same pages and messages, the original is not automatically payable as…

An extension of time under Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, regulation 31 may be granted where there is either good reason for the delay or…

For the purposes of the Litigators Graduated Fee Scheme, a case is not a cracked trial under limb (b) merely because it was listed for trial at an earlier…

For criminal legal aid remuneration, the fee regime for an alleged breach of a Crown Court order is confined to proceedings in the Crown Court concerning a…

For criminal legal aid remuneration, the fact that electronic evidence requires page-by-page analysis does not mean that every page qualifies as prosecution…

Part 36 does not automatically apply to an assessment of a solicitor’s bill under section 70 of the Solicitors Act 1974. Such an assessment is governed by its…

In detailed assessment proceedings, the receiving party will ordinarily recover the costs of the assessment under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, rule 47.20. The…

For the purposes of hardship payments under the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, remuneration must reflect the work actually done up to the…

For an additional payment for considering unused material under Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) (Amendment) Regulations 2020, the court must assess the…

A written and signed agreement between solicitor and client may constitute a contentious business agreement even where it permits charging by reference to…

In Solicitors Act 1974 proceedings, challenges to profit costs and success fees should ordinarily proceed first through the standard process of breakdowns…

Where prosecution evidence has already been remunerated as pages of prosecution evidence, a further presentation of the same material in a different format…

On a common-law assessment between solicitor and client, the costs of assessment are assessed on the standard basis unless the costs order expressly provides…

Under the Advocates Graduated Fee Scheme, a cracked-trial fee is available only where the statutory conditions are met. The provision for a case listed for…

In assessing special preparation costs for extensive electronic evidence, the court should consider both the scale and complexity of the material and the…

An informal resolution brokered by the Legal Ombudsman may create a binding contract where the parties’ communications and conduct objectively demonstrate…

On an appeal under regulation 10, a costs judge may reconsider the determination afresh and may increase or decrease the sum allowed, subject to the statutory…

In a Solicitors Act assessment, a client is not entitled to wide-ranging disclosure merely because documents may exist or may assist in formulating a case.…

Under regulation 31 of the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, a time limit for submitting an AGFS claim may be extended for good reason. In…

When assessing what a client should reasonably pay under a solicitor’s costs bill, an estimate is not a fixed-price cap. The court must consider the estimate…

For the purposes of the Advocates’ Graduated Fee Scheme, severance may result in two “cases” where it produces two separate indictments against the defendant.…

Under the Graduated Fee Scheme, payment is determined mechanistically and does not necessarily reflect the work undertaken. Whether a trial has begun depends…

For criminal legal aid graduated fees, an offence is classified by reference to the offence charged in the indictment. A conspiracy is placed in the class…

The statutory exception permitting recovery of an ATE premium for proceedings for misuse of private information depends on the substance of the claim, not its…

A litigant in person may recover consultancy costs as a disbursement only where the work is of a kind that a solicitor or other authorised legal representative…

Under the electronic-evidence provisions of the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, material served electronically may count as prosecution…

When an indictable offence is not listed in the fee classification table, it is initially placed in Class H but may be reclassified. The discretion must be…

On a summary assessment of inter partes costs on the standard basis, the court must undertake its own critical assessment, even where the paying party makes no…

A solicitor’s interim invoice is a statutory bill only if it is complete and final for the work it covers. A bill representing only an unconditional part of…

For calculating graduated fees, offences must be classified under the version of the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013 applicable when the…

For remuneration purposes, a Newton hearing must actually take place. Listing a Newton hearing, or undertaking preparatory work for one, is insufficient. A…

Under CPR 44.11, the court may disallow assessed costs or order a party or legal representative to pay costs caused by non-compliance with rules, practice…

For the purposes of the Advocate’s Graduated Fees Scheme, a hearing may constitute a trial followed by a new trial where the first trial is formally declared…

For a Newton Hearing to qualify under the Graduated Fee provisions, the judge must undertake a fact-finding exercise concerning disputed sentencing facts. Live…

In a detailed assessment, the court may decline to inspect sealed sensitive materials where the available evidence establishes that they are irrelevant to the…

For the purposes of the Litigator’s Graduated Fees Scheme, electronically served prosecution evidence must be counted in a way that produces an accurate…

For the Litigators’ Graduated Fee Scheme, electronic prosecution evidence may count as Pages of Prosecution Evidence where it was served and formed part of the…

Under the Litigator’s Graduated Fees Scheme, a tentative trial listing after a plea and case management hearing does not automatically make a case a cracked…

For the Litigators’ Graduated Fee Scheme, formal service is strong evidence that material is prosecution evidence, but it is not invariably a prerequisite for…

Costs incurred in preparing pre-action material must be reasonably and proportionately incurred. A detailed assessment may take account of repetitive precedent…

A costs judge assessing costs has jurisdiction to interpret existing costs orders, but not to amend or replace them. Where an order reserves costs, the effect…

On an appeal concerning publicly funded confiscation proceedings, a determining officer may take a broad-brush view of the aggregate time claimed for a class…

For the purposes of the Graduated Fee provisions, a Newton hearing requires the resolution of disputed facts relevant to sentence. A judge must therefore be…

Under the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, a cracked trial fee requires the statutory conditions to be met formally. Where the scheme…

Modern amendments and variations to an indictment during case management do not ordinarily create separate proceedings or justify multiple defence fees. A…

Under the Advocates Graduated Fee Scheme, electronic prosecution evidence is not counted merely because it was served on the defence. Documentary or pictorial…

Costs incurred in preparing for and attending pre-inquest reviews may be recoverable as costs incidental to a civil claim arising from a death. The governing…

Under the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, enhancement above prescribed rates is discretionary. Once exceptional circumstances are…

On a solicitor-and-client assessment, failure to provide an adequate estimate, or failure to obtain specific advance approval for particular costs, does not…

For criminal legal aid costs, the appropriate grade of an unqualified fee earner must be assessed by reference to the quality, nature and breadth of the…

For the purposes of the Litigators’ Graduated Fee Scheme, served electronic evidence that has never existed in paper form is not automatically included in the…

Costs may be disallowed, and a solicitor may be ordered to pay the opposing party’s assessment costs, where bills contain claims for work unsupported by the…

On a solicitor-and-client assessment for a protected party, the court must independently assess costs claimed from the client, even where the paying party has…

Guideline hourly rates are a useful starting point in detailed assessment, but they are not a finishing point. The court must assess the factors in Civil…

On a standard-basis detailed assessment, the question is whether instructing Leading Counsel was reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances. The…

A party who makes and then withdraws an application will ordinarily be liable for the reasonable costs incurred by the opposing party in responding to it. No…

For the purposes of the Litigators’ Graduated Fee Scheme, served electronic evidence that has never existed in paper form is excluded from the PPE count unless…

For the purposes of the Advocates Graduated Fee Scheme, a case is not a cracked trial under limb (b) merely because it was listed for trial and no plea was…

When assessing an additional fee for reviewing unused material, the determining officer must assess the reasonableness of the hours claimed in the context of…

The power under rule 3.1(7) of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 to vary or revoke an order is generally available only where there has been a material change of…

A solicitor may terminate a retainer where the agreement permits termination for good reason and the client’s conduct gives rise to substantive allegations of…

For a case under the Litigator’s Graduated Fees Scheme, a guilty plea becomes a cracked trial only where there was a genuine and settled intention to proceed…

A beneficiary may apply under section 71(3) of the Solicitors Act 1974 for assessment of solicitors’ bills paid from an estate. The court must consider the…

When assessing special preparation under the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, an awkward or imperfect format does not justify refusing to…

In assessing criminal legal aid remuneration for Court of Appeal work, the appropriate officer must apply a case-specific assessment of the TONG factors in the…

A hearing may constitute a trial for graduated-fee purposes even where no jury has been sworn, provided substantial case management has begun in a meaningful…

In determining pages of prosecution evidence for a Litigator’s Graduated Fee Scheme claim, the determining officer must assess electronic evidence item by item…

A paper bill of costs complies with the fee-earner identification requirements where it gives each fee earner’s name, status, qualification and date of…

An order apportioning a costs schedule between two applications for the purpose of calculating a payment on account does not ordinarily limit recovery to that…

A non-party costs order is an exceptional exercise of the court’s discretion. The central question is whether, in all the circumstances, it is just to make the…

Where criminal proceedings are dismissed on a successful application to dismiss and the assisted person is discharged, the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration)…

For advocates’ graduated fees, an offence must be banded according to the offence with which the defendant was indicted. The court determining remuneration has…

For Advocate’s Graduated Fee Scheme purposes, a murder falls within Band 1.1 where the victim was a public servant killed in the course of duty and the duties…

A receiving party may recover only costs liabilities actually incurred under the indemnity principle. A solicitor’s certificate will ordinarily be accepted…

When deciding who should pay the costs of detailed assessment proceedings, the court must consider all the circumstances. Relevant matters include the parties’…

When assessing criminal legal aid remuneration for Court of Appeal work, the appropriate officer must allow a reasonable amount for work actually and…