Bills of Costs

The required form depends on the proceedings and the period in which work was undertaken. A Bill commonly identifies the parties, costs order, assessment basis, funding arrangements, VAT position and relevant procedural history before setting out the work, disbursements and totals claimed. Certificates and supporting documents must also be considered.

Electronic Bills use structured data to show work by phase, task, activity and fee earner. Traditional Bills remain appropriate in some matters. Where a case crosses relevant dates or categories, more than one format or part may be required. We establish the correct approach before detailed drafting begins.

For relevant Part 7 multi-track work undertaken from 6 April 2018, the rules generally require an electronic Bill in the approved spreadsheet format. J-Codes and other identifiers enable the Bill to be sorted and analysed. The value of the format depends on the quality of the source data: inconsistent narratives or missing phase information still require informed review.

We work with time ledgers, invoices, counsel fee notes, expert invoices and the approved Costs Budget to classify the claim. A practical reconciliation at the start can identify duplicated entries, unexplained write-offs or work recorded against the wrong phase before these become points of dispute.

Drafting starts with the costs order and the scope of what is recoverable. The file history is then reconstructed from the papers and accounting material. Time entries are not accepted uncritically: we consider whether descriptions are intelligible, whether work relates to the recoverable proceedings and whether the allocation between phases and parties is supportable.

Disbursements need the same care. Counsel’s fees, expert charges, court fees and other expenses should be matched to evidence and treated correctly for VAT. Where information is incomplete, we raise a focused query rather than make an assumption that may later weaken the Bill.

In budgeted cases, the Bill must allow the approved phases and actual claim to be compared. Variance may require explanation, and incurred costs remain subject to assessment. The Bill should also give the court the information needed to consider reasonableness and proportionality under CPR Part 44.

Good presentation supports negotiation. A paying party should be able to identify the work claimed and formulate any genuine objection. Clarity does not mean surrendering detail; it means arranging the detail so that the issues can be understood and resolved efficiently.

Once finalised and certified, the Bill is served with the notice of commencement and relevant documents. The paying party may serve Points of Dispute. We can remain involved to advise on offers, prepare Replies and manage the detailed assessment process through to a hearing and final certificate.

This continuity is useful on technically demanding matters because the person who understands the construction of the Bill can respond directly to challenges. It also helps the legal team make informed commercial decisions as the costs of the assessment itself develop.