High Court: Senior Courts Costs Office judgments, 2026

Where the applicable rules reduce the “graduated fee” payable for a retrial, the reduction applies to the fee as a whole, including daily attendance fees…

For graduated-fee purposes, whether a criminal trial has begun is a fact-sensitive question of whether it has started in a meaningful sense. Swearing a jury is…

For the Litigators’ Graduated Fee Scheme, reclassification of an unlisted indictable offence is determined by the nature of the offence and the structure of…

Under paragraph 1(5) of Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, an electronic documentary or pictorial exhibit that never existed in paper form is…

Under the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, a new trial in the advocates’ scheme and a retrial in the litigators’ scheme describe a separate…

Under the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, rule 47.20, the usual order is that the receiving party is entitled to the costs of detailed assessment. The court may…

For criminal legal aid remuneration, whether a later hearing is a new trial is a fact-specific question. A formal order is not essential, but the transcript…

Under Schedule 2 to Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, special preparation may be paid for work reasonably required to review electronic…

For graduated fees under Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, a trial fee depends on whether a qualifying Newton hearing took place. Live…

A professional executor appointed by a will cannot charge the estate merely because the testator was told before death that professional executors would…

Under the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, a single indictment against one assisted person constitutes one case for the Litigators’…

Whether a trial has begun for a graduated fee is a fact-sensitive question of whether proceedings have advanced in a meaningful sense. Swearing the jury is not…

On an appeal from a remuneration assessment, a generic explanation may be permissible where the claim is presented as an undifferentiated block. Where counsel…

A solicitor’s retainer to conduct litigation may be an entire contract that includes the work needed to agree or assess recoverable costs. Where the solicitor…

For the graduated fee scheme, whether successive indictment versions amount to one case or more depends on the substance of the alleged criminality. Replacing…

In assessing legally aided counsel’s remuneration for Court of Appeal work, the appropriate officer must consider all relevant circumstances and allow a…

In assessing remuneration for leading counsel in publicly funded Court of Appeal proceedings, the appropriate officer must allow a reasonable amount for all…

Under regulation 10(14) of the Costs in Criminal Cases (General) Regulations 1986, costs in a successful appeal are discretionary. There is no general rule…

Under the Advocates Graduated Fee Scheme, fees for committals for sentence are fixed unless the statutory escape clause applies. The determining officer must…

When assessing special preparation under the Litigators Graduated Fee Scheme, the determining officer must assess the work actually required by the disclosed…

On an appeal under Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, reasonable remuneration must be assessed by reference to the overall fee allowed. A…

For graduated criminal legal aid fees, a Newton hearing depends on substance rather than its listing or description. It requires a substantial factual dispute…

In assessing advocates’ fees under the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, the court must consider all relevant circumstances, including the…

Material supplied by the prosecution may qualify as unused material even where the prosecution relies on extracts from it as served evidence. The remaining…

For remuneration purposes, a Newton hearing takes place where the sentencing court determines disputed issues of fact that materially affect sentence. A…

For special preparation under Schedule 1 to the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, payment may be allowed for reasonable time spent reading…

An application to set aside a Default Costs Certificate requires separate consideration of the mandatory and discretionary grounds under Civil Procedure Rules…

A representation order should not be construed more narrowly than its wording requires. Where it permits work at junior advocate rates after a case is sent for…

Under the Advocates Graduated Fee Scheme, a trial fee is calculated by reference to the band of the offence for which the assisted person is tried. It is not…

A Newton hearing may arise where a sentencing judge must resolve a factual dispute material to sentence. The hearing need not involve fresh or live evidence.…

A contentious business agreement must provide sufficient certainty as to the solicitor’s remuneration or the mechanism for fixing it. A provision allowing…

Proceedings may be issued solely to obtain an order for pre-action costs where the substantive claim has settled but costs remain disputed. The relevant…

When costs are assessed after a claim has concluded without track allocation, the court may retrospectively determine the track to which the claim would have…

A proposed point cannot support certification as a Point of Principle of General Importance if it was considered only academically and was not necessary to the…

For the purposes of remuneration for unused-material preparation, transcripts of evidence from an earlier criminal trial may constitute unused material where…

Part 36 consequences can apply where detailed assessment proceedings are concluded by agreement rather than judicial determination. The relevant question is…

A Newton hearing is required only where disputed facts may make a material difference to sentence. A judge may determine such facts by hearing evidence or, in…

For criminal legal aid remuneration, a Newton hearing requires a material factual dispute that must be resolved to enable the judge to impose an appropriate…

For payment under the Advocates’ Graduated Fee Scheme, an unequivocal judicial order for a new trial requires the proceedings to be treated as a trial followed…

Whether a trial has begun for graduated-fee purposes depends on whether it has commenced in a meaningful sense. The absence of a sworn jury is not decisive.…

On a solicitor-client assessment under section 70 of the Solicitors Act 1974, the one-fifth rule ordinarily determines liability for the assessment costs. A…

For the purposes of the Litigator’s Graduated Fee Scheme, where a first trial is terminated by discharge of the jury and a further trial is subsequently held…

For graduated criminal legal aid fees, a sentencing hearing is a Newton hearing only where the judge is required to conduct a fact-finding exercise concerning…

The general case-management power in CPR 3.1(7) remains available during provisional assessment unless the specific costs regime expressly excludes it. CPR…

A defendant’s costs order is subject to the prescribed regulatory scheme. Routine communications are classified by the time they take, not by the complexity of…

An assessment under section 71(3) of the Solicitors Act 1974 protects the interests of the estate and beneficiaries and may involve a wider inquiry than an…

Under section 70 of the Solicitors Act 1974, payment of a solicitor’s bill requires agreement to the amount paid or to be paid. Agreement may be inferred from…

Whether a second Crown Court proceeding is a retrial or a new trial for remuneration depends on the substance of what occurred, rather than labels in court…

Fixed recoverable costs do not apply where a claim against the police includes, rather than exclusively comprises, a claim for an intentional tort within CPR…

An unless order may enforce payment of an interim payment ordered during proceedings, including by debarring a party from continuing to defend. The power to…

Assessments of private prosecution costs from central funds are compensatory and case-specific. There are no fixed hourly rates applicable to all private…

On an assessment of non-contentious solicitor-and-client costs, the court should first assess the work done by reference to the time reasonably spent and the…