We have reported frequently on the new format bill of costs in BC Disease News, most recently in edition 158 where we noted that Practice Direction 51L had been amended so that the voluntary pilot of the new format would be extended for a year with a view to it becoming mandatory for all work done after 1 October 2017.
The ‘new bill of costs’ includes the bill of costs contained in Precedent AB annexed to PD 51L in a ‘pdf’ version together with an electronic spreadsheet version of the same bill in the form provided in paragraph 1.4 of that PD.
The Association of Costs Lawyers (ACL) has recently carried out a survey amongst lawyers to gage the professions response to the new electronic format of the bill of costs and the results are clear – the new format has been met with apathy. Notwithstanding the fact that all references to the J-Codes have been removed, the survey showed that 117 members of ACL still found the new format was not needed.
A further 28% said it would make things worse, 9% said they were getting used to the new bill and 34% predicted that solicitors simply would not change. A majority, 57%, of those surveyed said they felt that October 2017 was too soon for the new format to become compulsory.
As a result of these findings, the ACL has created its own version of the bill to introduce to lawyers and judges to the potential of an Excel based form. It claims that its bill of costs takes into account comments made about the pilot by ACL members and the wider profession and as such is intended to be more flexible than precedent AB.
ACL chairman Iain Stark stated:
‘With such a focus on modernising civil justice, some form of electronic bill of costs is inevitable. Done properly, it can offer significant benefits to parties, judges and lawyers alike’.