Pursuant to the Civil Procedure Rules, parties are obliged to serve costs estimates at allocation stage and listing stage. This applies to both fast track and multi track proceedings.
It has not been unusual for fee earners in past years to simply provide a very basic figure for the purpose of this exercise, very often without any reference to a breakdown.
Fee earners must now be far more proactive in preparing accurate and sufficiently detailed breakdowns. Section 6.6 of the Costs Practice Direction now clearly provides that if your final costs claim exceeds your estimate by more than 20%, the Court may conclude that your costs are disproportionate, resulting in reductions to your costs.
On the other hand, you may be at risk of unfavourable directions or a costs capping order if your estimate appears too high.
At Forest Costing Service we can prepare a properly costed and accurate estimate, thereby reducing your risks and increasing your profitability. We now have a substantial number of clients who make use of this service – why not join them for added peace of mind? Remember, our reasonable costs in preparing the estimate are usually recoverable at the conclusion of a successful case. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain from this service.
Call us now on 01902 892636 to arrange for an accurate estimate of your costs. Estimates can be prepared urgently subject to prior arrangement.