Subjects:

Practice & Procedure

Contents:

1. Introduction

A. The scope of this book

2. Summary Assessment - An Overview

A. What is summary assessment?

B. When is summary assessment appropriate?

C. When is summary assessment inappropriate?

3. Preparation for Summary Assessment

A. The N260

B. Example of an N260

C. VAT

4. The Order for Costs

A. Who is the winner?

B. Partial costs order

C. Conduct

D. Standard or indemnity costs

E. Offers

F. More than one defendant

G. Wasted costs

H. Costs against non-parties

5. The Summary Assessment Hearing

A. Procedure for the hearing

B. Pointers for the paying party

C. Preliminary Issues

D. Attacking and defending the detail of the statement of costs

6. Funding

A. Conditional fee agreements

B. Collective conditional fee agreements

C. Uplifts

D. After the event insurance premiums

7. Payment

8. Appeals against Summary Assessments

9. Preparation Checklists

Checklist 1 The statement of costs

Checklist 2 Preparing for the summary assessment

Checklist 3 The hearing

Appendices

A. Statutes (Extracts)

B. Statutory Instruments (Extracts)

C. Solicitors Costs Materials

D. Extracts from the CPR

E. Extracts from Practice Directions to the CPR

F. Guideline Hourly Rates

Solicitors' costs materials

Extracts from the CPR 1998

Extracts from Practice Directions to the CPR

Under the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 a court must carry out a summary assessment of costs in any trial or hearing that lasts one day or less. Practitioners who prepare for and represent clients in such hearings can greatly improve their client's chances of reducing their liability for costs, or enhancing the level of costs they can recover, if they are well-versed in the relevant costs law and procedure. This is a practical and portable guide which contains everything practitioners and judges need to know in order to conduct a summary assessment of costs in the County Court, or the High Court or the Court of Appeal.

Arranged in a logical and accessible way, which enables reference at a a glance, the book includes expert commentary and analysis on the most commonly arising issues, carefully selected appendices, and checklists aimed at the busy practitioner. The book is fully up-to-date to include the November 2005 reforms to CFA regulations.

Examples of areas covered are: when summary assessments are appropriate, what order the parties should be asking for, the impact of Part 36 offers and the conduct of the parties, issues arising from the funding of the claim, and pointers on how to prepare, attack and defend a costs schedule. In addition to key statutory material and extracts from the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, the appendices include SCCO guideline rates for solicitors' and barristers' fees, and relevant solicitors' costs materials.

• Complete practical guide to preparing for and conducting a summary assessment of costs hearing
• Slim and light volume: easy to carry and take to every court hearing
• Contains expert guidance and case law on the most commonly arising issues, including preparation of the schedule of costs, increasing recovery of costs, and how to challenge a successful party's bill of costs
• Up to date to include the November 2005 reforms to CFA regulations
• Includes all key Civil Procedure Rules and statutory materials on costs
• Clear layout allows for easy, at a glance, reference in the adjournment period before an assessment hearing
• Comprehensive checklists assist with preparation
• Contains information about further resources for more in depth analysis