High Court: Senior Courts Costs Office judgments, 2024

For special preparation under Schedule 1 to the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, the relevant question is the reasonable time required to…

A finalised and perfected judgment should be reopened only in very limited circumstances. The overriding objective is underwritten by the principle of finality…

Under the Litigators’ Graduated Fee Scheme, a trial begins when the jury has been sworn and the prosecution has opened the case to any extent. The fact that…

In a solicitor-client assessment, an estimate for specified initial work does not necessarily cap the retainer where the client understood that further work…

Whether a Newton hearing took place depends on what occurred, not merely on whether such a hearing was listed. A hearing qualifies where the judge must resolve…

Under the graduated-fee scheme, the question is whether the defendant faced more than one legally distinct case, not how many indictment documents were…

Special preparation under paragraph 17(1)(a) of the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013 requires both work substantially exceeding the usual…

On a detailed assessment, the court may disallow all costs under CPR Part 44.11 where a party or legal representative has acted unreasonably or improperly in…

On a detailed assessment, the court may determine disputed bill items individually by deciding whether work was reasonably incurred and, if so, what amount was…

Under the criminal advocates’ graduated fee scheme, remuneration is based on the offences faced by the particular defendant. Where an offence is expressly…

An invoice does not become an interim statute bill merely because it is labelled as one or bears the usual formal features. The retainer and the bill must…

Where an arbitration agreement incorporates the Arbitration Act 1996, the statutory procedure for transferring costs jurisdiction from the arbitral tribunal to…

For Band 1.1 of the Banding of Offences table, a public servant is equivalent to a police or prison officer only where the relevant duties involve keeping or…

For graduated criminal legal aid fees, a case is a trial only where proceedings have begun in a meaningful sense. Swearing a jury is not conclusive. A trial…

An appeal under the graduated fee scheme must be brought within the prescribed time unless there is good reason for an extension. Where there is no good…

For remuneration purposes, a trial may have begun in a meaningful sense even where the jury has been selected but not sworn. The relevant question is whether…

For remuneration under paragraph 13 of Schedule 2 to the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, a “new trial” and a “re-trial” are not…

For the higher fee band to apply to the killing of a patient in a medical or nursing care context, the categorisation is not determined solely by the victim’s…

A solicitor’s contractual right to deduct fees does not, without more, establish a right to raise interim statute bills. The retainer must be construed to…

For litigator remuneration, a second hearing is a separate “new trial” only where the original indictment has been severed, quashed or stayed and a further…

On a detailed assessment of costs, guideline hourly rates are guidance and a possible starting point, not a default entitlement. The appropriate starting point…

When electronically served prosecution evidence has never existed in paper form, its inclusion in prosecution evidence pages is discretionary. The assessor…

Special preparation fees under Schedule 2 to the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013 are assessed by reference to the reasonable time required…

Under the Graduated Fee Scheme, fees are payable per case, not per trial. A fresh indictment or an additional count does not create a new case where the…

For a Newton hearing to qualify for the applicable graduated fee, there must be a factual dispute requiring judicial resolution. Live evidence is not…

In criminal legal-aid proceedings, the indemnity principle remains applicable unless legislation expressly disapplies it. Civil contempt proceedings are…

For payment under Schedule 2 to the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, electronic prosecution evidence is included in the PPE count only where…

The Litigators’ Graduated Fee Scheme must be applied according to its wording. The court cannot rewrite or disapply the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration)…

For a hearing to qualify as a Newton hearing under the graduated fee provisions, the court must conduct a fact-finding exercise relevant to sentence. Live…

For Litigator’s Graduated Fees Scheme claims, electronic prosecution material may count as prosecution evidence where it was served, or where the circumstances…

A request to reopen a provisional costs assessment must identify the items challenged and provide a hearing time estimate. If it does not, the assessment is…

Periodic invoices are not interim statute bills merely because they are described as bills or are paid without protest. The retainer must, expressly or by…

For a trial fee to be payable under the graduated fee scheme, the trial must have begun in a meaningful sense. Swearing or selection of a jury is not…

For electronic prosecution evidence, the determining officer must assess whether the material is of central importance to the trial, rather than merely…

A solicitor may issue interim statute bills during an ongoing retainer only where the retainer clearly confers that contractual right, or where a natural break…

For LGFS purposes, a Newton hearing may exist even where the case was listed for sentence and no live evidence was called. The decisive question is whether the…

For graduated-fee purposes, a criminal trial may have begun in a meaningful sense before the jury is sworn or the case is opened. The decisive question is…

For the purposes of the graduated fee regime, whether hearings separated by an adjournment constitute one continuous trial or a trial followed by a retrial…

Electronic prosecution evidence counts towards pages of prosecution evidence only where it has been served and the determining officer considers it…

A sentencing hearing is a Newton hearing in substance only where the court must resolve a material dispute about facts relevant to sentence. The label applied…

For advocate graduated fees, an offence should be classified by reference to the true nature of the proceedings. Environmental regulatory charges may properly…

For remuneration purposes, a Newton hearing requires a material factual dispute which the sentencing judge must determine before passing sentence. Submissions…

For a Newton Hearing to qualify as a trial under the graduated-fee provisions, the sentencing judge must undertake a fact-finding exercise concerning disputed…

For graduated fees under the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, the question is whether the defendant faced one case or separate cases, not…

Under the graduated fee scheme, joinder of two or more indictments produces one case and attracts one case fee. A stay order made alongside joinder does not…

For graduated-fee classification, a conspiracy to commit armed robbery falls within the armed-robbery band if the prosecution case is that the agreement…

A pre-commencement funding arrangement for the purposes of the QOCS transitional provisions does not need to be enforceable. It is sufficient that the relevant…

An appeal from a provisional assessment under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, CPR 47.15, is not available. A party wishing to challenge the assessment must request…

On a solicitor-and-client assessment, inadequate costs information may justify limiting recoverable costs to what it is reasonable, in all the circumstances…

When assessing costs from central funds, the question is whether it was reasonable for the defendant to instruct the counsel used. The availability of…

Qualified one-way costs shifting applies to detailed assessment proceedings arising from a personal injury claim. The word “proceedings” in CPR 44.13 must be…

A bill of costs may be a statute bill where, viewed with information already known to the client and accompanying documents such as time sheets or ledgers, it…

A solicitor must provide a complete statute bill covering the fees, charges and disbursements due for the business undertaken. A bill limited to the success…

In solicitor-and-client assessment proceedings, an application for specific disclosure must be relevant and proportionate to the sums and issues genuinely in…

A cracked trial fee may be payable where the assisted person effectively indicates a not guilty plea at the first plea and case management hearing, but formal…

Fee-earner grades under the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013 require a practical and holistic assessment of skill, knowledge and experience.…

Points of dispute in detailed costs assessments must enable the receiving party and the court to identify precisely what is challenged and why. The requirement…

For a subsequent intended trial to attract a cracked trial fee, the case must be ready for trial and listed as a fixture or placed in a warned list. An…

The statutory jurisdiction of a Costs Judge under the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013 is confined to the categories of claim specified by…

An appeal under regulation 29 of the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013 is confined to matters that could properly have been brought before the…

Relevance of electronic prosecution evidence does not require remuneration for every page. A proportionate percentage may be applied where the material has…

For the Advocates’ Graduated Fee Scheme, evidence forming part of a witness statement’s exhibits may be included in the pages of prosecution evidence count…

A solicitor’s entitlement to payment after terminating an entire litigation retainer for good reason remains subject to the parties’ agreement. Where payment…

Enhancement of criminal legal aid fees depends on the cumulative effect of the relevant exceptional circumstances, not on comparison with other complex or…

A late Notice of Commencement does not invalidate detailed assessment proceedings. Under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, r 47.8, lateness may lead to disallowance…

Misleading or inaccurate costs material does not automatically amount to misconduct under CPR 44.11. The conduct must be unreasonable or improper, meaning…

A common law assessment following the loss of an opportunity to seek a statutory detailed assessment must remain within the issues and directions actually…

Under the graduated fee scheme, replacing a stayed or quashed indictment with another indictment does not ordinarily create a second case. The relevant…

Electronic prosecution material does not count automatically as prosecution evidence for fee purposes merely because it was served or read. Material that has…

For the purposes of the Litigator’s Graduated Fees Scheme, a formal retrial order is not essential where the first jury is discharged before the trial has…

For AGFS remuneration, dates within a preparatory hearing or trial are not automatically trial days. Nor does a court listing as a mention automatically…

Under the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, entitlement to separate trial and cracked-trial fees depends on whether changes to the indictment…

Under the Litigator’s Graduated Fees Scheme, electronic documentary or pictorial exhibits which have never existed in paper form are not automatically included…

For the purposes of the Litigator’s Graduated Fees Scheme, a trial may have begun in a meaningful sense before a jury is selected or sworn and before the…

For the purposes of the Advocate’s Graduated Fees Scheme, documentary material digitally uploaded with a prosecution statement may constitute attached annexes…

For remuneration purposes, electronic evidence miscategorised as unused material may properly be treated as used where the factual reality is that the…

For the Criminal Legal Aid graduated fee schemes, the relevant date is the date of the determination under section 16 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and…

For graduated criminal legal aid fees, whether a trial has begun depends on whether it has started in a meaningful sense. The swearing of a jury is not…

For the purposes of the Litigator’s Graduated Fees Scheme, a trial may begin in a meaningful sense without a jury being selected or sworn and without the…

Electronic prosecution evidence is included in the pages of prosecution evidence for graduated-fee purposes only where the appropriate officer considers that…