By Marina Dulhunty -
Snapshot
- A well-drafted, informative bill should reduce potential costs disputes with clients and give you a better return for work done. Remember the client is not usually a lawyer.
- A bill that is full of cryptic descriptions of work may be determined not to be a complying bill, and your practice might not be able to recover its fees.
- A bill that is hard to understand is likely to be disputed by a client, can cause delays in recovering fees, could lead to a costs assessment application and, ultimately, reduce your recoverable costs.
As a costs assessor, I review legal bills, consider any relevant cost agreements and legislation, and then issue a certificate or determination of costs. This sounds simple enough but, in my experience, too often the drafting of a bill is neglected and comes back to haunt the hasty solicitor. In the context of legal bills, ambiguity is not constructive.
Some examples of vague and cryptic claims that I have seen in bills submitted for assessment include:
