Joining the back of the queue

Writing in the Law Society’s Gazette of 10 April, District Judge Jeremy Cochrane, the new president of the Association of District Judges, suggested that the meticulous work done by costs draftsmen is being undone by careless solicitors. All too often, the cost draftsman has carefully endorsed a publicly funded bill in which the client has an interest with an appropriate passage along the lines of ‘the client has/has not been sent a copy of the bill and has/has not advised he/she wishes/does not wish to be heard …’ which the solicitor has omitted properly to complete or sign. The bill is returned to the solicitor and when it is eventually relodged at the court office, it joins the back of the queue. Similar delay occurs as a result of solicitors not bothering to look through bills drawn by the costs draftsman before they are lodged. The draftsman’s notes that figures need to be inserted, checked and possibly amended are missed, as are comments about the weaknesses of claims made or liberties taken.