Reporting on the Conference - UK Legal Costs Charge Rates Survey

Friday, 25 July 2008 9:00AM

Reporting on the Conference - UK Legal Costs Charge Rates Survey

REPORTING ON THE CONFERENCE - UK LEGAL COSTS CHARGE RATES SURVEY

When legalsupportnetwork.co.uk attended this year's Annual Conference, its main purpose was to establish the Legal Costs Charge Rates throughout the UK.

The aim was to provide a useful reference guide to professionals in legal costs.

The idea for the survey originated at the Annual Conference in Bournemouth in 2006, when it was muted that there was not enough information available specifically pertaining to costs charge rates.

A year later and with approximately 200 delegates in attendance at the Annual Conference, it was the ideal opportunity to seek information from the broad spectrum of costs professionals.

In conjunction with the support and guidance of a number of well respected legal costs professionals, a short survey was produced.

The survey set out to identify the following areas:

A) The Type of Firm/Employment i.e. In-house or Costs Partnership or Sole Practitioner

B) The Environment i.e. Office or Home Based

C) The Area of Work i.e. Personal Injury, Commercial Litigation, Criminal, Family/Car, Shipping etc.

D) The Fee Earner Grade under which an individual charged i.e. Grade A, B, C or D

E) The Region using the SCCO Guideline Regions.

The Survey Sheet was given to all delegates at the beginning of the conference.

Discussions with a wide variety of delegates enhanced the information gathered.

The general consensus from delegates was that there were too many differentials affecting the assessment of costs which could not appear on a simple survey.

The issues which delegates raised included:-

- Identifying the rates allowed for Drafting work as opposed to Advocacy or Consulting work.

- Constraints by Clients.

- Grading of costs professionals in terms of identifying skills relevant to grade.

- Varying rates allowed for different types of work.

The SCCO Guideline Rates for the Summary Assessment of Costs will continue to provide the basis for assessing reasonable/ allowable rates. It is understood that one of the ALCD’s goals is for Costs Draftsmen to become recognised in the Guideline Rates, and the survey conducted at the Annual Conference reinforces the need for this to happen.

The recent success of Rights of Audience has also significantly contributed to raising the profile of Costs Draftsmen in the industry, and this recognition can only lead to better understanding of the profession and the building of a recognised costs structure.

Thanks are due to all those who assisted in any way. This survey provides a useful platform on which to build.

Author: David Sparkes

Published In: ALCD Journal (Association of Law Costs Draftsmen)

Dated: April 2007