High Court: Senior Courts Costs Office judgments, 2025

An appeal under regulation 29 of the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013 lies only in respect of the categories of claim for which regulation 28…

In Solicitors Act assessment proceedings, the court may order inspection or disclosure even though CPR 46.10 does not impose an automatic disclosure stage.…

A party who accepts the figures for a costs bill after line-by-line assessment cannot later substitute different figures merely because subsequent calculations…

A costs management order records the extent to which budgeted costs are agreed. Where costs budgets have been filed and exchanged, the court must make such an…

For a Newton hearing to qualify for remuneration under the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, the sentencing judge must have been required to…

A security for costs application in Solicitors Act assessment proceedings may be made under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, because the proceedings constitute a…

On an appeal concerning criminal legal aid remuneration, the determining officer must assess the figure that provides reasonable remuneration. The task is…

For the purposes of the graduated fee scheme, a trial may begin in a meaningful sense before the jury is sworn. The question is whether substantial matters of…

For the Litigator’s Graduated Fees Scheme, prosecution evidence includes served evidence and exhibits, including material served electronically. Informal…

Whether a second hearing is a retrial or a separate new trial for criminal legal-aid remuneration is a question of fact. The presence or absence of a judicial…

When determining remuneration for work in Court of Appeal proceedings, the appropriate officer must consider all relevant circumstances, including the nature…

For a graduated criminal legal aid fee to be payable for a Newton hearing, the sentencing hearing must involve a fact-finding exercise. Live evidence is…

For criminal legal aid remuneration, electronic material counts as pages of prosecution evidence only within the statutory scheme. Material disclosed merely as…

Prescribed rates for interpreters in publicly funded criminal cases may be exceeded where the applicable guidance permits it and the relevant discretion is…

In determining criminal legal aid remuneration, a court may adjust a nominal electronic page count to exclude blank pages and obviously irrelevant material.…

Permission to appeal a detailed assessment decision may be granted only where the proposed appeal has a real prospect of success or there is some other…

In assessing prosecution evidence for a graduated criminal legal aid fee, electronic evidence must be counted by a broad and sensible approximation rather than…

A hearing is a Newton hearing in substance only where the court must determine disputed facts that materially affect sentence. Listing a hearing as a Newton…

Under regulation 31 of the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, a late claim requires either a good reason or exceptional circumstances. Those…

For a cracked trial fee, it is sufficient that an assisted person pleads not guilty to at least one count and the prosecution subsequently offers no evidence…

For remuneration purposes, a trial may begin in a meaningful sense before the jury is selected or sworn and before the prosecution opens its case. The decisive…

Proportionality of costs is assessed after a line-by-line assessment of reasonableness. The court must then assess the resulting total by reference to the…

When deciding whether to set aside a Default Costs Certificate under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, the court must assess the whole procedural context and…

Under the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, advocacy fees are determined by the advocate’s status, not simply by the nature or importance of…

Under the Litigators’ Graduated Fee Scheme, the replacement, staying or preferring of indictments does not automatically create more than one “case” or…

A sentencing hearing qualifies as a Newton hearing for remuneration purposes only where evidence is heard at that hearing on a factual issue material to…

In a solicitor-own-client assessment, the court has power to order inspection of relevant documents held by the solicitors. That power is not confined to…

When assessing recoverable success fees under a pre-commencement funding arrangement, the court applies the pre-1 April 2013 regime and assesses reasonableness…

Capacity to contract is assessed in relation to the particular decision, rather than globally. The statutory presumption of capacity is rebuttable, and the…

In assessing criminal legal aid remuneration for Court of Appeal work, the appropriate officer must consider all relevant circumstances, including the nature…

Whether a resumed criminal hearing is a new trial depends on the substance of what occurred, not merely on the absence of a formal retrial order. Relevant…

For a criminal legal aid fee to be treated as a trial fee, a Newton hearing must actually take place. Listing the matter as a Newton hearing, preparing for it…

For graduated fees under the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, the PPE count must reflect the quantity of legible evidence served. The…

For electronic prosecution evidence under the graduated fee scheme, an A1-sized page should be counted by reference to its mathematically equivalent number of…

In a solicitor-client assessment, a costs estimate is not ordinarily a cap. Its effect depends on the retainer, the defined scope of work and any provision for…

For the purposes of the Litigator’s Graduated Fees Scheme, prosecution evidence may include material served electronically, subject to the specific rules and…

For special preparation under Schedule 1 to the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, time reasonably spent reading prosecution evidence may…

A Newton hearing may take place without live evidence, without being listed under that name, and through submissions on evidence already before the sentencing…

Evidence originally provided as unused material may count as prosecution evidence for graduated-fee purposes where it is sufficiently pivotal to the…

For a cracked-trial fee, the defendant must have entered a plea of not guilty at the first hearing at which a plea was entered. An earlier indication of an…

In assessing Pages of Crown Evidence under Schedule 2 to the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, electronic evidence should be included only to…

For electronic evidence to count as Pages of Crown Evidence under the Litigators’ Graduated Fee Scheme, it must have genuine probative value and be of central…

Section 74(3) of the Solicitors Act 1974 does not apply to costs incurred in family court proceedings. Work in separate county court proceedings does not bring…

On summary assessment, the court should first determine the reasonable costs of the individual items claimed. It should then stand back and assess whether the…

For a low-value personal injury claim, solicitors may reasonably value the claim above the applicable Protocol limit where the information available at the…

Solicitors’ invoices may constitute interim statute bills where the retainer, construed as a whole, provides that each bill is final for the relevant period…

For the purposes of the criminal legal aid graduated fee scheme, whether a second hearing is a retrial is a fact-sensitive question. A retrial may exist even…

Where an assisted person faces multiple offences on one indictment falling within different AGFS bands, the trial advocate may select the offence band under…

Where a former client seeks delivery of a final statute bill, the ordinary rule that costs follow the event remains applicable unless conduct justifies a…

Where a protected party’s solicitors seek payment from damages, the court must independently decide whether approval or dispensation from detailed assessment…

For the purposes of the Litigator’s Graduated Fees Scheme, whether a trial has begun is determined by substance rather than by a single procedural event.…

A solicitor’s estimate is not ordinarily a fixed fee or cap. It is, however, a relevant yardstick when assessing what it is reasonable for the client to pay.…

Whether a sentencing hearing was a Newton hearing for remuneration purposes is fact-sensitive. Live evidence and formal listing as a Newton hearing are not…

For special preparation remuneration, the relevant factual issue must be outside the usual professional experience in cases of the same type. The assessment…

On a detailed assessment of costs, recoverability depends on whether work was reasonably incurred and reasonable in amount, and whether it is properly…

A client who applies for a detailed assessment of solicitors’ costs outside the statutory time limit must establish special circumstances warranting the…

For the purposes of calculating prosecution evidence pages under the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, electronically served pictorial…

For graduated criminal legal aid fees, a trial may begin before a jury is sworn where the court undertakes substantial matters of case management in a…

For Advocate’s Graduated Fees Scheme banding, a robbery involving an offensive weapon is “armed robbery” only where the weapon falls within the statutory…

For Litigator’s Graduated Fees Scheme purposes, prosecution evidence includes material served electronically, subject to the specific limits in Schedule 2 to…

For graduated criminal legal aid fees, a trial begins only when it has started in a meaningful sense. The question is fact-sensitive. Swearing a jury is not…

A sentencing hearing is a Newton hearing only where the sentencing judge must determine a disputed factual issue before imposing sentence. Differences between…

Where a first indictment is stayed and a separate indictment involving a different prosecution proceeds, the defendant is entitled to separate graduated fees…

Under the Advocates Graduated Fee Scheme, a second fee may be payable where a later indictment represents a substantial change in the case, rather than merely…

For remuneration under the Litigators Graduated Fee Scheme, a sentencing hearing becomes a Newton hearing only where disputed facts must be resolved before…

For the purposes of the Litigators Graduated Fee Scheme, controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship is not a serious sexual…

For the purpose of calculating a criminal graduated fee, prosecution evidence page counts must reflect a reliable and non-duplicative measure of the material…

Under the Litigator’s Graduated Fees Scheme, electronic evidence may count as prosecution evidence where it was reasonably necessary for the defence to…

Points of Dispute in detailed assessment proceedings must identify the items challenged and state concisely the nature and grounds of each dispute. Wholesale…

A damages-based agreement for non-employment proceedings must provide for the solicitor’s payment to be calculated by reference to an actual sum or benefit…

Remuneration for electronic prosecution evidence is not determined by counting every page that requires review. The court should assess the relevant evidence…

For the purposes of calculating prosecution evidence under Schedule 2 to the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, a searchable and navigable PDF…

A protected party’s solicitor cannot deduct costs or a success fee from damages without court assessment and, where required, approval. A contractual…

Points of Dispute in a detailed assessment must identify the challenged items and state concisely the nature and grounds of each objection. The receiving party…

A solicitor may render interim statute bills only where the retainer expressly permits them, a natural break occurs, or the parties’ conduct supports that…

A Newton hearing may arise even where it was not expressly listed as such and no live evidence was called. The decisive question is whether the sentencing…

For the purposes of the Litigator’s Graduated Fees Scheme, a trial may begin in a meaningful sense before the prosecution opens its case or calls evidence. The…

Fees charged by a medical reporting organisation or other intermediary are recoverable only where the receiving party demonstrates that the composite charge is…

A retainer described as a conditional fee agreement is not thereby a damages-based agreement. Where non-contentious work is involved, an agreement may fall…