LAA-assessed Claim 5a (FAS) checklist

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Chloe Campbell
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LAA-assessed Claim 5a (FAS) checklist For use with CIV CLAIM5A The purpose of this checklist is to reduce the likelihood of your CIV CLAIM5A (claim for Counsel s fees under the Family Advocacy

1 LAA-assessed Claim 5a (FAS) checklist For use with CIV CLAIM5A The purpose of this checklist is to reduce the likelihood of your CIV CLAIM5A (claim for Counsel s fees under the Family Advocacy Scheme) being rejected. Please complete the whole checklist, paying particular attention to requirements marked: P CIV CLAIM5A claims are often rejected because they fail to meet these requirements; Denotes a priority reject and will not count against your reject KPI. If LAA rejects your claim: please ensure that you include this checklist when you resubmit your claim; the LAA will tick those requirements that have been met, and it is your responsibility to check the remaining requirements before you resubmit the claim; you can LAA at laacivilclaimfix@legalaid.gsi.gov.uk if you have any issues with the reject. Further FAS guidance is available at: Client s name Counsel s name Cert. Ref. No. Counsel s Acct. No. Bar Contract Manager s name Clerk s name Requirement 1 Original signature by Counsel Unless LAA has previously agreed that the declaration on page 5 of the CIV CLAIM5A may be signed by a fee clerk or other designated person, the declaration must be signed and dated by counsel. The date must not pre-date the work claimed for. The CIV CLAIM5A sent to LAA must have an original signature, not a copy. 2 Legal Aid Certificate reference number LAA rejects claims that have an incorrect Legal Aid Certificate number. Please either provide a copy of the certificate or check with your instructing solicitor that the number you provide is correct. LC5a LAA-assessed Claim 5a (FAS) checklist (11.13) 1

2 3 Is this a Family Advocacy Scheme case? With the exception of cases described in FAS Guidance 5.1, applications for Legal Aid made after 9th May 2011 will be dealt with under the Family Advocacy Scheme. You should provide evidence (the order made or an attendance note) to show that the work claimed for falls within the scope of the FAS. If work by counsel for a single hearing or activity includes a significant amount of work falling within and outside the scope of the FAS, you should claim for the whole hearing or activity as outside the scope of the FAS, at the relevant hourly rates on your instructing solicitor s bill. For further details, see FAS Guidance within appendix 2 of the cost assessment guidance at: 4 Justifying travel and hotel expenses If you claim expenses for journeys and overnight stays on page 4 of CIV CLAIM5A, you must describe and justify them page 2, especially if counsel is not based at the address you give for chambers on page 1. If a local counsel is not instructed, you must explain why (e.g. continuity of counsel and why this was significant; specialist counsel required with details of the specialism and why this was necessary to the case; no more local advocate available or willing to work under the FAS ). If you claim for taxi costs rather than public transport, you should provide evidence that public transport was unavailable or inappropriate. If you fail to do so, LAA may assess the travel costs at the amount that public transport would have cost. If you apportion costs between more than one Legal Aid Certificate, or justify overnight accommodation as reasonable because counsel was engaged in the same location on the preceding or following day in an unrelated publically funded matter, you should give the additional certificate s reference on page 2 and provide evidence of the costs claimed on that certificate. 5 Disbursements If you claim for mileage, the miles you claim must reflect the actual distances between your chambers or working base and the destination (e.g. the relevant court or the location of advocates meeting/conference). You must provide a voucher for all other disbursements of 20 (including VAT) or more. If you are unable to provide your ticket for rail or other public transport travel, LAA will accept an alternate proof of disbursement (e.g. receipt, booking confirmation, bank/credit card statement), supported relevant evidence (e.g. a screenshot from the ticketing website). Please note that LAA will keep your vouchers. LC5a LAA-assessed Claim 5a (FAS) checklist (11.13) 2

3 6 Claimable work All of the work carried out by counsel must fall within the scope of the Legal Aid Certificate. If your CIV CLAIM5A appears to claim for work other than that specified by the certificate, LAA will rejected it and ask you to explain how the work falls within the certificate s scope. Counsel s work must also: be claimed at the correct rates (see comply with the Legal Aid fee scheme guidance (see be in accordance with the brief provided by their instructing solicitor; and not exceed the cost limit on the Legal Aid Certificate. LAA will reject claims for amounts greater than the Legal Aid Certificate s cost limitation. If you wish to claim for more than the limit, you should contact your instructing solicitor. They may apply to LAA for permission to extend the certificate s scope. 7 Under-claiming Please ensure that you claim for all appropriate fee elements. If you accidentally omit items, you cannot claim for them later (FAS 15.28) 8 Have you used the correct claim form? P 9 Advocates Attendance Form If LAA considers that you may have accidentally omitted any such items, it will return your claim for amendment. If you deliberately choose not to claim certain fee elements, please state this on page 2 of CIV CLAIM5A so that your claim is not returned unnecessarily. The correct form is CIV CLAIM5A Version 3 (April 2013). It is available at: You must submit a fully and correctly completed Advocate s Attendance Form (AAF) with your CIV CLAIM5A. The AAF must be an original, not a copy, and must be either signed or sealed. The only FAS claims for which AAFs are not required are those for interim HU1 work without bolt ons (see FAS 15.7). All bolt ons shown on your AAF must be individually sealed or initialled by the judge or court clerk, and any amendments must be sealed by the court. If there is a discrepancy between the hearing and certification dates on the AAF and CIV CLAIM5A, you should explain this on page 2 of the CIV CLAIM5A. LC5a LAA-assessed Claim 5a (FAS) checklist (11.13) 3

4 10 Brief or letter of instruction You should provide LAA with a copy of the brief or letter of instruction given to counsel by their instructing solicitors. The brief/letter should include the case s hearing date, listing time, the type of hearing and type of court, and it should specify the application before the court. LAA needs this information to determine whether counsel s work is in accordance with their instructions and whether you have claimed the correct fee. If you cannot provide this, you should provide LAA with the court order or notice of proceedings that records counsel s activity. LAA will accept draft copies of orders if they have been sealed by the court or certified by the judge or court officer. If the order/notice does not specify the application before the court, you should state this on page 2 of the CIV CLAIM5A (e.g. application for a prohibited steps order, application to discharge a contact order ). If there are any discrepancies between the work you claim for and the brief and other supporting documentation, please explain the reason for this on page 2 or in a covering letter and if possible provide evidence to support your reasons. 11 Court orders LAA will accept draft copies of court orders as long as they have been seal by the court or signed by the judge or court officer. 12 Evidence that the court ordered the counsel to attend before the listing time 13 Evidence for Final Hearing (see also requirement 16) 14 Evidence for advocates meetings If counsel was specifically directed by the court to attend before the listing time for a particular hearing, and your claim uses this time to calculate the hearing fee, LAA requires evidence of this in a court order or notice of proceedings, or (if this direction is not included in the counsel s brief or distinguishable from a request that the advocate attend early for a client conference) confirmation from counsel s instructing solicitors. If the court directs that the counsel attends early in connection with the hearing, you should claim this time as part of the counsel s hearing fee rather than as a separate conference fee (see FAS 14.6). If you claim for a Final Hearing fee, you must provide LAA with a copy of the order listing the hearing, as evidence that the hearing was specifically listed as a Final Hearing or as the main hearing at which the court intended to determine whether a final order should be made. To show that the hearing was effective, you must either supply the order made at the hearing or the advocate s notes, or give a detailed description of the content of the hearing on page 2 of the CIV CLAIM5A If you claim for attending an advocates meeting, you must provide a copy of your brief or evidence of your instruction. If you claim for more than two advocates meetings, you must also submit a copy of the court order listing the meetings (FAS LC5a LAA-assessed Claim 5a (FAS) checklist (11.13) 4

5 15 Evidence for opinions and conferences 16 Evidence in support of settlement 17 A hearing that takes place over more than one day If you claim for an opinion or a written submission you must provide a copy of it. If you claim for attending a conference, you must provide its starting and finishing times. If you claim a settlement supplement, you must provide a court order as evidence of the settlement (FAS 14.25). If you claim a Final Hearing fee because a care case settles at the Issues Resolution Hearing, you must provide either a copy of an order that records the settlement or explain why no further hearings will take place on page 2 of the CIV CLAIM5A. If a hearing takes place over more than one day, please provide the start time (the listing time), the end time and the time counsel took for lunch, on page 2 of CIV CLAIM5A. 18 Adjournments If the times you claim include lunchtime (12:00 14:00), and you do not show a lunch break or state that counsel worked through lunch, LAA will assume that counsel took a 60-minute break. 19 Has the solicitor s final bill already been paid? If your instructing solicitor s final bill has already been paid by LAA, you must provide LAA with evidence that your fees were included in the advocacy costs specified in that bill. If your instructing solicitor s final bill did not include your fee, your instructing solicitors must submit a revised bill that includes your fee. 20 Representation of multiple clients 21 Cancelled hearings This does not apply to some High Cost Cases; your instructing solicitors can advise you on this. If counsel represents more than one client in a case, please give each client s details and Legal Aid Certificate number on page 1 of CIV CLAIM5A. If LAA cannot authorise payment of your claim under the first certificate specified on page 1 because it exceeds the certificate s cost limit, LAA will attempt to make payment under the other certificates if you authorise it to do so on page 2. LAA will reject any duplicate claims made unless you provide evidence that the court did not hear the matters together. The fee you may claim for a cancelled hearing depends on circumstances (see FAS ) For LAA to determine whether you have claimed the correct fee, you should provide: counsel s brief or evidence of instruction; details of any preparation carried out by counsel; details of any time spent at court; when counsel was informed that the hearing was cancelled; and an explanation of the circumstances on page 2 and/or page 5 of CIV CLAIM5A. LC5a LAA-assessed Claim 5a (FAS) checklist (11.13) 5

6 22 Unlisted emergency hearings 23 Telephone hearings 24 Reading days/ written submissions For claims for fees for an unlisted emergency hearing, please provide: an explanation of the circumstances of the hearing on page 2 on CIV CLAIM5A; the time that the papers were issued at court; and if appropriate, the time that the advocate was informed that the hearing could not be heard that day (FAS 15.7) For claims for fees for a telephone hearing, please provide on page 2 of CIV CLAIM5A: the time that the telephone call/video conference was first attempted; and detailed notes of the content and duration of the hearing (FAS 14.8). No payment will be made for reading days. If a hearing is listed by the court with a specific day set aside for the preparation of written submissions, you may claim a daily fee for this; you must provide a copy of the court order that supports your claim. 25 Appeals If you claim an appeal fee, you must provide evidence that the appeal was against an interim order or finding in the courts that is not excluded from the FAS (FAS 5.1) 26 Replacement advocate If one advocate replaces another within a single ongoing advocacy activity, the advocate who completed the activity should claim payment for the whole activity (FAS 15.19) In such a case, in addition to the usual documentation you should provide both advocates notes and give an explanation of the circumstances on page 2 of CIV CLAIM5A. However, where an advocacy change arises between separate days of a part-heard hearing, separate payment may be claimed by each individual advocate for work undertaken as fees are incurred. For Caseworker s name Region LC5a LAA-assessed Claim 5a (FAS) checklist (11.13) 6

THIS PRACTICE DIRECTION SUPPLEMENTS CPR PARTS 43 TO 48

PRACTICE DIRECTION PART 43 PRACTICE DIRECTION ABOUT COSTS THIS PRACTICE DIRECTION SUPPLEMENTS CPR PARTS 43 TO 48. SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION. SECTION 2 SCOPE OF COSTS RULES AND DEFINITIONS. SECTION 3 MODEL