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Table of Fees A : Court of session - Senior Counsel: work done or outlays incurred on or after 26 April 2019 but before 22 March 2021

Schedule 4 of the Civil Legal Aid (Scotland) (Fees) Regulations 1989

PART 2

SENIOR COUNSEL

FAMILY ACTIONS, PETITIONS (INCLUDING JUDICIAL REVIEW, ABDUCTION AND ADOPTION) AND ORDINARY ACTIONS

1.	Drafting or revisal of pleadings
	(a)	drafting of summons, defences, petition or answers	£437.75 - £515.00
	(b)	revisal of summons, defences, petition or answers	£154.50
	(c)	adjustment fee (open record) (each occasion)	£128.75
2.	Minutes, etc. – revisal fees
	(a)	amendments (other than formal) or answers	£206.00
	(b)	admissions, tender or acceptance (in appropriate cases)	£77.25
	(c)	note of exceptions	£103.00
3.	Notes
	(a)	note on liability and/or quantum	£231.75 - £566.50
	(b)	advice on tender or extra‑judicial offer when not merely confirming advice at consultation	£206.00
	(c)	note on line of evidence	£309.00 -£618.00
	(d)	other notes	£231.75
4.	Consultations
	before proof or trial, or otherwise involving a significant degree of preparation or lengthy discussion with senior alone or with senior and junior		£309.00-£566.50
5.	Pre-trial meetings
	Pre-trial meetings with opponent with a view to settlement of case (to include preparation of minute of pre-trial meeting and any associated joint minute)		£669.50
6.	Day in court
	(a)	Inner House including appeal under section 163, 164 or 165 of the 2011 Act([2])	£1,545.00
	(b)	Outer House	£1,390.50
7.	Time engaged in necessary travel
	Supplementary fee chargeable in addition to any of the above fees where necessary travel is undertaken		£103.00
8.	Accommodation and associated subsistence
	Payment of necessary accommodation and associated subsistence per day		£103.00

([2]) The Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 (asp 1). Defined in regulation 2 of the Civil Legal Aid (Scotland) (Fees) Regulations 1989/1490.

Subject to the following provisions of this Schedule, the fees of counsel shall be calculated by the Board, or in the event of dispute by the auditor, in accordance with the fees prescribed in the Tables of Fees set out after paragraph 17 to this Schedule, and the fee of a solicitor-advocate for undertaking an item of work in the Court of Session shall be—

(a) where that person is acting as a junior solicitor-advocate, the same as that allowable to a junior counsel for undertaking an item of work equivalent to that undertaken by the solicitor-advocate; or

(b) where that person is acting as a senior solicitor-advocate, the same as that allowable to a senior counsel for undertaking an item of work equivalent to that undertaken by the solicitor-advocate.

Where the Tables of Fees in this Schedule prescribe a range of fees for any item of work the Board, or as the case may be the auditor, shall allow such fee as appears to provide reasonable remuneration for the work, subject to the following—

(a) it shall be for counsel to identify any factors justifying a higher fee than the minimum prescribed;

(b) where a fee relates to the drafting of any document the length of the document shall be a subordinate consideration to the content of the document;

(c) in determining the appropriate fee for drafting a summons, petition, defences, or answers regard shall be had to the volume of documentation that required to be considered, and the novelty or difficulty of the work involved;

(d) in determining the appropriate level of fee for a consultation, regard shall be had to the length of the consultation and any reasonable and proportionate preparation required which has not otherwise been reflected in an additional fee for preparation, or in a fee for a proof or other hearing; and

(e) in determining the appropriate fee for drafting a note, regard shall be had to the issues involved, the importance, novelty or complexity of the applicable law and, as appropriate, the absence of previous authority or the existence of adverse authority.

Where the Tables of Fees in this Schedule do not prescribe a fee for any class of proceedings or any item of work, the Board, or as the case may be the auditor, shall allow such fee as appears to be appropriate to provide reasonable remuneration for the work with regard to all the circumstances, including the general levels of fees in the Tables of Fees.

Subject to paragraphs 5 to 7, the fees prescribed in the Tables of Fees in this Schedule include all associated preparation work.

Subject to paragraph 6, an additional fee for preparation shall only be allowed if it relates to a proof, debate or like hearing and the hearing—

(a) does not proceed (a date or dates having been assigned for the hearing);

(b) does not exceed a day in duration;

(c) does not exceed four days in duration, and the Board is satisfied that the case is abnormal in magnitude, difficulty or any other respect; or

(d) exceeds four days in duration, and the Board is satisfied that the case is abnormal in magnitude, difficulty of any other respect, and also that counsel required to consider an abnormally large quantity of documentation.

An additional fee for preparation as provided for in paragraph 5 above shall be allowed only on the following conditions—

(a) the fee is only chargeable in respect of work undertaken following the instruction of counsel for the hearing;

(b) in respect of any hearing, except on cause shown, such a fee is allowable only once to junior or senior counsel, or as the case may be junior and senior counsel, notwithstanding that the applicant or assisted person is represented by more than one junior or senior counsel during the course of the proceedings;

(c) the Board, or as the case may be the auditor, must be satisfied that the time engaged in preparation was reasonable and proportionate in all the circumstances of the case; and

(d) counsel shall provide the Board with a detailed summary of the work undertaken and the documentation perused at each stage of the process and shall, if required by the Board, provide details of authorities referred to, the time engaged, dates and locations as to when and where the work was undertaken, and any contemporaneous records or notes made in the course of preparation.

The additional fee for preparation shall be calculated by dividing the time allowed, as determined in accordance with paragraphs 5 and 6, into units of 8 hours, each unit being payable at the rate of two thirds of the daily rate applicable to that hearing as prescribed in the Tables of Fees.

The fees prescribed in the Tables of Fees for drafting any summons, petition, application other initiating document, defences, representations or answers include any work involved in revising such a document.

Paragraphs 10 and 11 apply where, in respect of any hearing, counsel claims a fee for keeping free from other commitments (“a commitment fee”), and regulation 9 shall apply subject to those paragraphs.

A commitment fee is allowable only where—

(a) counsel has accepted instructions to appear at a proof, debate or similar hearing assigned for 8 days or more over consecutive weeks;

(b) the proceedings settle on or before the first day of the hearing;

(c) counsel is notified that the hearing is not proceeding no more than two working days before the start of the hearing; and

(d) in the case of a hearing assigned for fewer than 12 days, counsel is not otherwise entitled to a fee for attendance at the first day of the hearing.

Where a commitment fee is allowable the fee is payable at a unit rate equal to the daily rate applicable to the hearing to which it relates, as prescribed in the Tables of Fees, and—

(a) 2 units shall be payable in the case of a hearing assigned for 12 days or more where counsel is not otherwise entitled to a fee for attendance at the first day of the hearing; and

(b) 1 unit shall be payable in any other case.

In the calculation of counsel’s fees—

(a) counsel’s fees are allowable only where the Board has approved the employment of counsel or where the approval of the Board is not required;

(b) junior counsel shall only be allowed the fees prescribed in Part 1 of the applicable Table of Fees even where sanction has been granted for the employment of senior counsel;

(c) except on cause shown, fees to counsel shall be allowed for no more than two consultations in the course of proceedings;

(d) notwithstanding that sanction may have been granted for the employment of senior counsel, or for the employment of a second junior counsel, fees shall not be payable for the attendance of two counsel at a hearing which by its nature does not require the attendance of a second counsel, or for the attendance of senior counsel at a hearing that by its nature does not require the attendance of senior counsel; and

(e) correspondence, telephone calls and meetings between counsel acting for the same assisted person are not allowable as separate items and shall be subsumed within the fees prescribed for the associated item of work in the Tables of Fees.

In the calculation of counsel’s fees for proceedings in the sheriff court or the Sheriff Appeal Court , First-tier Tribunal for Scotland, Upper Tribunal for Scotland or the Sheriff Appeal court —

(a) no fee shall be allowed to counsel for drafting defences in skeleton form;

(b) except on cause shown, no fee shall be allowed to counsel for drafting or revising a motion or for attendance at the calling of a motion; and

(c) except on cause shown, no fee shall be allowed to counsel for attendance at hearings which are routine, or procedural in nature, or unopposed.

The fee for time engaged in necessary travel specified in paragraph 13 of Chapter 6 of Part 1 and paragraph 7 of Part 2 of Table of Fees A and in paragraph 10 of Part 1 and paragraph 7 of Part 2 of Table of Fees B is chargeable only as follows—

(a) the travel undertaken must involve a round trip exceeding 60 miles in each direction;

(b) counsel shall, if required, produce vouching of the travel undertaken; and

(c) the fee is chargeable only once in respect of each round trip, irrespective of the number of cases for which the travel is undertaken.

15.—(1) Travel costs are chargeable as an outlay only in circumstances where a fee for time engaged in necessary travel is chargeable under paragraph 14.

(2) Counsel shall if required provide vouching of the costs incurred.

16.—(1) The cost of necessary accommodation and subsistence is chargeable as an outlay up to the level specified in paragraph 14 of Chapter 6 of Part 1 and paragraph 8 of Part 2 of Table of Fees A and in paragraph 11 of Part 1 and paragraph 8 of Part 2 of Table of Fees B only in circumstances where a fee for time engaged in necessary travel is chargeable under paragraph 14, and on cause shown.

(2) Counsel shall if required provide vouching of the costs incurred.

17.- In any taxation of counsel’s fees in terms of regulation 12, the auditor shall have regard to information not previously made available to the Board only if the information was not available to be provided to the Board at the time it made the offer to counsel which is the subject of taxation, or on cause shown.