Andy Ellis suggests how to repair the “derailed” assessment of costs
However uncomfortable an admission, coming as it does from a costs specialist, I realise there are many disincentives to using the detailed assessment procedure. Some are beyond the control of costs professionals, but others are not and need addressing.
At the end of the spectrum where we are least able to effect change, I discovered last week that the Senior Courts Costs Office, having taken over a month to restore a part-heard hearing for a single day, relisted the appointment for February 2011! This as a small example to illustrate why parties generally seek to avoid the court’s intervention in costs disputes.
As for issues I believe we can and should tackle ourselves, one of the clearest and most serious challenges to the costs sector is how to reduce the time and cost involved in producing bills of costs for assessment—which after all is the stock in trade of all costs draftsmen.
When in 1999 the reasonable costs of preparing bills became
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