CCMC Representation & Costs Management Advocacy

A costs and case management conference is a hearing at which the court considers directions for progressing the case and the parties’ costs budgets where the budgeting regime applies. Disclosure, witness evidence, experts and trial arrangements can all influence the budget. Not every civil claim requires costs management; the current CPR Part 3, any exceptions and the specific directions must be checked.

The distinction between incurred and future costs matters. Budget approval ordinarily concerns future costs by phase, rather than detailed scrutiny of every historical attendance. The court may record comments about incurred costs, which remain relevant later. We prepare the argument around that distinction and avoid presenting the CCMC as a final decision on recoverability.

We review the pleadings, draft directions, existing orders, time records and the proposed litigation plan. Costs budgets should reflect the work realistically required, with intelligible assumptions about experts, disclosure, conferences and trial preparation. Missing information is raised with the fee earners before figures are treated as final. This also helps identify work already included elsewhere.

Precedent R records the budget discussion and the areas of agreement or disagreement. A useful report explains the remaining gap by phase. We help narrow issues before the hearing and prepare a working schedule so that negotiations, revised directions and concessions can be tracked without losing the overall position. Deadlines should be checked against the court order and current rules.

The hearing preparation includes a concise issues list, phase calculations and the evidence needed to explain unusual expenditure. Where counsel or a solicitor handles the wider case management issues, we agree how the costs submissions will fit alongside their role. Costs Lawyer authorisation is costs-specific; it should not be assumed to cover unrelated arguments about the merits of the claim.

We confirm the proposed representative’s authorisation and the scope of instructions for the particular hearing. Remote or in-person attendance depends on the listing and court directions. The objective is practical: help the court understand what work the proposed directions require and why the corresponding future costs are reasonable and proportionate.

A significant development may require a budget variation under the applicable rules. That is different from asking the court to approve expenditure merely because it has already exceeded an allowance. We help identify the development, its timing and its effect on the relevant phases, and review the supporting explanation for a variation application.

After the hearing, the approved figures and assumptions should be recorded accurately and communicated to the litigation team. Later bills of costs and detailed assessment proceedings depend on the actual order and the applicable basis of assessment. Budget approval is not a guarantee that every cost will be recovered. Keeping a phase-based record makes later advice more reliable.