Costs Schedules

I previously talked about witness statements and today am discussing Costs Schedules and on the next occasion I will be talking about Costs Budget and Precedent H and what that means given the recent changes.

As part of the litigation process we are required to file a Costs Schedule before a Hearing of an Application. It does not matter whether we are the party bringing the Application or defending the Application both sides must do a Costs Schedule in order to claim costs against the other party. The filing of a Costs Schedule should be made at least 24 hours before the Hearing and served on the opposing side. This means that before any hearing we must be fully prepped in relation to claimable costs on your behalf.

This task always takes longer than anticipated and requires marshalling of information. We must know exactly what you have spent in running your case and a break down of exactly what is an attributable cost to the Application in hand.

We have built into our case management systems the facility to obtain clear narratives regarding the tasks which means we are able to pull through the information quickly to provide the required information in a detailed format to produce your Costs Schedule in the required format for the Court.

This we do to support you in maximising the recoverability of costs and disbursements from the other side (being court fees, counsel`s fees and expert`s fees or example). At the end of the day in addition to succeeding in your case you want to maximise the recoverability of your costs against the other side.

Next time the recent changes to Precedent H and what this means in preparing the Costs Budget of anticipated costs on your behalf in advance of a Case Management Conference.

This blog is written by Jamela Collins Litigation Solicitor. If you have any questions about costs or the drafting of witness statements in relation to civil court cases please contact me Jamela Collins on 01306 88 4432 or contact me by email on jcollins@meaby.co.uk.