| Guidelines for Taxation of Costs |
Guideline: State
Number: Effective Date: 6/96 |
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| General Principles | |||||||||||
| Practitioners are obliged in legally aided matters to obtain succinct instructions from their clients given that the payment is to be made from a fund ( see the judgment of Mann J. in Melbourne Parking Station ( 1929 ) VLR 5 ). Only those costs that progress the matter are claimable. If the client is unable to provide instructions succinctly it is incumbent upon the solicitor to warn the Commission of an 'extraordinary' expense. The Commission is aware that practitioners will have clients who want attendances for advice and reassurance or other matters of a general nature. These costs are not claimable. The Commission has an obligation to inform recipients of grants of aid that payment for such attendances will not be allowed. |
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| Appointments | |||||||||||
| Clerk's attendances on doctors' rooms to make appointments will be allowed but making appointments for clients or witnesses will not be. See : clerical attendances |
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| Brief | |||||||||||
| Fee on brief will normally include both preparation and the first days hearing - see Appendix B In Globo Fees , however where counsel is briefed an additional allowance may be made for attendance to read a brief where the material briefed is exceptionally voluminous or the matter is one of exceptional difficulty, provided prior approval of the Commission is given. | |||||||||||
| Clerical Attendances | |||||||||||
| Allowance will only be made where the attendance by the clerk would have been chargeable by the solicitor had the solicitor attended to it, being a step that advanced the matter. Unsuccessful telephone calls will not be allowed |
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| Committals | |||||||||||
| Appearances before and preparation for committal hearings will normally be allowed at solicitors rates but if the issues are of sufficient complexity may be allowed at counsels rate prior approval having been sought and given by the Commission. | |||||||||||
| Counsels Fees | |||||||||||
| Ordinarily the fee on brief includes all the preparation normally required to ready the matter for trial. In exceptional cases a reading fee may be allowed where pre-trial preparation requires counsel to peruse extensive documentation ( see ante - perusals ). | |||||||||||
| Counsels Fees - Family Court | |||||||||||
| Family Court: attendances at court on formal or short interlocutory matters will only be allowed at solicitors rate notwithstanding that the solicitor has appeared as counsel. On the other hand some matters before a Registrar may be allowed at counsels rate with prior approval of the Commission. | |||||||||||
| Courier | |||||||||||
| Intrastate couriers used in lieu of the postal or Ausdoc service may be allowed if the urgency of the matter predicates such use. Interstate or international courier charges will not be allowed without prior authority of the Commission. | |||||||||||
| Difficulty In Obtaining Instructions | |||||||||||
| The Commission recognises that there are difficult clients. Where it is anticipated that, by reason of age, language, temperament or other exceptional reason instructions will be lengthy the solicitor should warn the Commission of an extraordinary expense, so that the Commission can make an allowance which will be noted on the file. | |||||||||||
| Drawing | |||||||||||
| A drawing fee will not be allowed for those parts of a document that are pre-printed or stored in a word processor or that are the formal parts of the document. | |||||||||||
| Engrossing | |||||||||||
| The material typed into a pre-printed form or form stored in a word processor will only be allowed as an engrossment, with the exception of the formal parts of the document and any parts of a printed form, which will not be accepted as a professional charge. | |||||||||||
| Facsimiles | |||||||||||
| Attendance to send a fax is regarded as an office overhead and will not be allowed. | |||||||||||
| File Notes | |||||||||||
| The taxing officer may exercise a discretion in allowing for a reasonable time for each particular attendance and will be guided by the solicitor's file notes of the attendance. The taxing officer will not simply rely on the time indicated by the solicitor as having been taken. The note need not be a verbatim note of the whole attendance, but must be sufficient to substantiate the time claimed. Perusals by a solicitor of notes taken by an apprentice or clerk of an attendance upon a client will not be allowed |
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| Internal Communications | |||||||||||
| Attendances by a solicitor on an apprentice or secretary directing him or her to undertake any task will not be allowed. However, if an apprentice or solicitor is briefing the principal solicitor having the carriage of the matter as to the results of research specifically undertaken for the matter, the attendance of the principal will generally be allowed. On the other hand an attendance by either solicitor engaged in discussion of a particular file with another solicitor within the firm will not be allowed. This will not apply however, where in-house counsel is briefed by the solicitor with the Commission's authority. Perusals by a solicitor of notes taken by an apprentice or clerk of an attendance upon a client will not be allowed. See : clerical attendances |
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| Inquests | |||||||||||
| Appearances before and preparation for an inquest will normally be allowed at solicitors rates but if the issues are of sufficient complexity may be allowed at counsels rate prior approval having been sought and given by the Commission. | |||||||||||
| Letters | |||||||||||
| See : perusals | |||||||||||
| Medical | |||||||||||
| A clerk's attendance will be allowed both to make appointments with doctors and to pay doctor's accounts. | |||||||||||
| Perusals | |||||||||||
| Because the rules relating to charging for perusals vary between jurisdictions the following charges will be allowed for perusal of documents including letters in all jurisdictions: | |||||||||||
| Under 2 folios | Nil | ||||||||||
| 2-10 folios | Per folio | ||||||||||
| over 10 folios | Attendance to read | ||||||||||
| Photocopying | |||||||||||
| Attendances to photocopy will not be allowed. | |||||||||||
| Research | |||||||||||
| Research of the law by a solicitor would not normally be allowed except in exceptional cases where for instance it is of an area of law which a competent solicitor practicing in the jurisdiction practiced by the claimant would not be expected to have knowledge of. Otherwise prior authority should be obtained from the Commission. | |||||||||||
| Re-Taxation | |||||||||||
| The costs review committee have considered many objections to the Commission re-taxing bills that have already been the subject of a taxation in the Family Court. The committee considers re-taxation is not only desirable but essential for the Commission to fulfil its legal duty. A copy of the detailed reasons is available on request. | |||||||||||
| Solicitor Instructing Counsel | |||||||||||
| Aid for a solicitor to instruct counsel in court would not normally be granted whether for trial or plea of guilty and certainly not without prior approval of the Commission. | |||||||||||
| Swearing | |||||||||||
| No charge will be allowed for a solicitor to have the client swear an affidavit in front of the solicitor (in a Family Court matter) nor for the attendance by a solicitor while the client reads through the affidavit prior to its swearing. | |||||||||||
| Telephone Calls | |||||||||||
| Will not be allowed as attendances, whether outgoing or incoming, where the caller does not reach the party sought, whether or not a message is left, unless information is conveyed which has advanced the matter.
See : clerical attendances |
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| Travelling Time | |||||||||||
| Time spent travelling to a city court from a solicitor's office will not be allowed except where the solicitor's office is more than 5 kilometres from the court and the firm has no office within 5 kilometres of the court. Counsel is allowed travel time where chambers are more than 5 kilometres from the court, but at solicitors rates. See Appendix A Scale of Fees | |||||||||||
| Tribunals, Administrative Appeals, Industrial Relations Court etc | |||||||||||
| Appearances before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, the Workers Compensation Commission and the Industrial Relations Court save for formal or directions hearings, and the preparation for such, will normally be allowed at counsels rate unless otherwise noted by the Commission upon granting aid. For other tribunals the guidelines relating to inquests above, will apply. | |||||||||||
| Witnesses | |||||||||||
| Telephone calls solely to make appointments will not be allowed but a clerk's attendance will be allowed to telephone a witness to arrange for attendance in court. See : clerical attendances |
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| Workers Compensation | |||||||||||
| The appropriate scale is that in Appendix A Scale of Fees . See Tribunals, Administrative Appeals (above) as to whether counsels or solicitors rates apply. | |||||||||||
