Legal Aid Costs Draftsman: How ARC Costs can Assist
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The Role of a Legal Aid Costs Draftsman:
Legal aid costs draftsmen are specialist lawyers in the area of legal costs which deal specifically with costs claims that are submitted to the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). The role requires the specialist costs teams to quantify the legal costs of Court disputes relating to civil, family and criminal law as funded by the LAA.
Once a case/aspect has been concluded, a public funded Solicitor will be required to quantify and seek their costs from the LAA. A knowledgeable Legal Aid Costs Draftsman is always beneficial to instruct, to maximise the fixed/hourly rate fees which can be claimed. Common aspects of law in which we claim back costs include: domestic abuse, ancillary relief, Children Act proceedings, care and housing disrepair.
Inter-Partes Costs Orders in Legal Aid Cases
In civil and some family disputes, one must be aware that if an inter-partes costs order is made (i.e. one party is instructed to pay the other – this can be common in housing disrepair and sometimes ancillary relief cases), you will be expected to seek to claim your costs from your opponent first, rather than from the LAA. For publicly funded matters, the indemnity principle does not apply in respect of hourly rates, and higher than legal aid rates may be claimed from a paying party.
What is the Legal Aid Agency?
The legal aid agency is a publicly funded body available to financially eligible persons who cannot afford legal representation in Court. This ensures access to justice within England and Wales, irrespective of one’s financial income.
Paying Back Legal Aid Costs
In the event that a successful litigant receives any damages during the funded litigation (this can be common in ancillary relief or civil disputes), legal aid recipients may be required to pay back a portion of the awarded sum to the legal aid agency from part of their settlement (the statutory charge), or if they keep or gain property under legal aid representation, and if the full amount of legal costs are not recovered from the opponent in any inter-partes costs dispute.
Full guidance can be found in the Civil Finance Electronic Handbook.
Our Team of Legal Aid Costs Draftsmen:
Our team of highly skilled Law Costs Draftsmen and Costs Lawyers regularly assist in all types of costs claims, including publicly funded and inter-partes costs claims, with our client base ranging from law firms to Litigants in Person. In inter-partes disputes, we can also assist either paying parties and receiving parties.
Using our expert costing service, we help clients maximize their recovered legal costs whilst providing expert legal advice and minimising the risk of rejected claims from the Legal Aid Agency, to ensure you maintain your KPIs.
We regularly use the CCMS system to submit legal aid costs claims and deal with all the administration on behalf of our clients and to free up the time of fee earners, thereby ensuring you can recover your maximum legal aid fees in an expeditious and efficient manner.
Why use ARC Legal Aid Costs Draftsman Services?
ARC costs provides a range of costs drafting services tailored to the needs of our clients. With our extensive knowledge of costs, we regularly draft fixed fee claims (for both profit costs and FAS), and in inter-partes disputes (such as personal injury and clinical negligence disputes) we regularly draft Costs Budgets and Bills of Costs. Our legal costs negotiators are well versed in settling Points of Dispute and Reply in order to achieve the best outcome.
Our Costs Lawyers can also provide legal representation in costs proceedings as/when necessary, including at any detailed assessment hearing.
What We Do Best
Our dedicated and experienced law costing team provide a wide array of legal costs services to fee earners and solicitors. Find out more by following the links below.
Bills of Costs
We pride ourselves in achieving an average recovery of 72% of all Bills
Costs Budgets
We achieve an average of 81% of the value of the Costs Budgets drafted
Costs Budget Negotiations
Our team have over 20 years of experience in Costs Budget Negotiations.
CPR 45 Fixed Recoverable Costs
CPR 45 Fixed Recoverable Costs are becoming a more and more common dispute in costs
Legal Costs Training
We're experts in legal costs and pride ourselves in the results our team achieve
Detailed Assessment Proceedings
Our experienced costs team ensure that the best outcome is achieved on every case
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