Legal Cost Management Services

Changes to the Civil Procedure Rules meant that in April 2013 Costs Budgeting became compulsory for most multi-track cases, and the premise of effective cost management has become essential to the success of law firms.

It is pivotal that litigation is planned effectively so as to maximise cost recovery. As well as that, all litigation needs meticulous consideration, and contingencies must run within cost budget, which will be exchanged between the various parties under a set timescale. This will be recommended under the Civil Procedure Rules and instructions given by the Court, together with the required format, namely a precedent H and precedent R.

These are agreed between the parties, if possible, or signed off by the court following a Cost Case Management Conference.

During this part of the process, there are unfortunately many things that can go wrong. This could have a detrimental effect to the cost recovery between parties, particularly following the requirement to serve a precedent Q with the formal bill of costs, as the Court will take agreed budgets into account when assessing costs at the conclusion.

It’s essential that your Costs Budgeting is completely correct, and that the appropriate representations are made against those of your opponent.

You will also be allocated a cost lawyer, who will prepare the precedent H and outline a detailed process of what is required. If your cost budget requires updating, this should be the responsibility of the same cost lawyer who you have previously worked with, for the sake of consistency. Your cost lawyer will guide you through every step of the process to ensure your requirements are totally met in terms of your cost budgeting.

Our expert services include the provision of a full Costs Budgeting and Management package, including:

• • Drafting an initial Precedent H together with advice:
  • A comprehensive analysis of your case will always be provided.
  • We will accurately detail incurred costs in order to avoid any discrepancies.
  • A detailed breakdown of future costs will also be provided, including work anticipated and time associated with the fee earner to analyse.
  • A further detailed breakdown will be given of future individual disbursements – from counsel and medical fees to travel expenses.
  • We will also contact counsel in order to obtain predicted fees on behalf of the fee earner.
  • Commenting on the other party’s budget and preparing a precedent R.
  • Following the receipt of the other party’s precedent R, we can offer advice as to how to deal with these most effectively.
  • We provide negotiation with opponents for the purpose of completing a discussion report, prior to CMCC.
  • On-going monitoring to ensure your spend is within budget for each phase of the litigation process:
  • If the Costs Budget is likely to be exceeded, we can advise you of the required revisions and update the budget accordingly.
  • We also provide advice on updating the budget throughout the case and applications to amend/vary the budget too.
  • Liaising with fee earner as to the future progression of the case to provide an analysis against the approved cost budget.
  • Amending budget once approved by court for filing.
  • We have the ability to prepare precedent H budgets on a time sensitive basis.
  • We defer our fees until settlement of the entitlement as to costs has been reached.

Cost Chambers Legal Cost Consultants Limited are also able to accept very late instructions, and we have a free nationwide courtier who can urgently collect files.

If you require any assistance concerning Costs Budgeting & Management, feel free to call our Costs Lawyers now on 01704504090 or complete the online contact form.