Costs Court

Legal costs

These are either the amounts lawyers charge their clients for providing legal services or amounts recoverable by the successful party for the work done by their lawyers in legal proceedings.  Legal costs include charges for the lawyers' services and disbursements, including barristers' fees, doctors' reports and the reasonable costs of court recordings and transcripts.

Party Party costs

A court or tribunal can order that costs be paid by one party to another, or the parties can agree that one party will pay the other parties' costs to settle their dispute. The amount can be either agreed between the parties or decided by the Costs Court if parties can't agree.

Please note that new listing procedures will apply to Party Party Taxations from 1 March 2016, following the cut-off date for the March Callover (see table below). Party Party proceedings initiated after 1 March 2016 will no longer require the Summons for Taxation to be listed in the monthly Callover, unless the Court otherwise directs. To obtain a hearing date, you will be required to submit a Party Party Taxation Information Form prior to filing.

Please refer to Practice Note SC GEN 11 Costs Court for full details.

Disputes between lawyer and client

If you're unhappy about your lawyer's bill you may dispute the amount charged. Apart from negotiating directly with your lawyer, the date on which you first instructed your solicitor determines how you may act to resolve your dispute:

A:         If you first instructed your solicitor in a particular matter after 1 July 2015 this link applies to your costs of the dispute.

B:         If you first instructed your solicitor between 12 December 2005 and 30 June 2015 this link applies to your costs of the dispute.

C:         If you first instructed your solicitor before 12 December 2005 this link applies to your costs of the dispute.

How to request an itemised account

If you don't receive an itemised account from your lawyer/s, you can request an itemised bill. The request must be made within 30 days after the date on which the legal costs become payable. The lawyer must provide an itemised account within 21 days of the request. 

If it has been more than 30 days since receiving a lump sum bill, on the first hearing of the Summons for Taxation (first return date of Summons) a request can be made to the Costs Court for an order that the lawyer/s file with the Court and give you an itemised bill.

The Costs Court may reduce the costs if:

• costs are not reasonably incurred
• costs are considered excessive
• costs claimed are not reasonable and proportionate to the complexity or importance of the issue and the amount in dispute

This process of assessment is called a 'taxation'.

You may represent yourself at a taxation hearing before the Costs Court. We strongly recommend that you seek legal advice from either another lawyer or a cost expert/consultant given that the law in respect of cost matters is very complex and technical. See representing yourself for more information.

The Law Institute of Victoria may be able to provide you with the contact details for individuals who practice in this area.

If you choose to go ahead and represent yourself in a taxation hearing you'll need to take the following steps:

• File your Summons for Taxation within 12 months from the time you receive the bill you wish to seek taxation of.
• Prepare and file three copies of a Summons for Taxation. A copy of the lawyer's bill also needs to be filed at the time of filing the Summons. These documents must be filed with the Supreme Court Registry, either in person or by mail.
• Registry will seal the Summons for Taxation and set down a date for the first hearing in the taxation process. When the Summons is returned from Registry keep one of the copies for your own records. The second copy is to be served on the lawyer/s by you.  Registry services keep the third copy on file.
• If you're disputing items on an itemised bill, seven days prior to the first hearing date, you'll need to file a notice identifying each item you object to, specifically and concisely setting out the grounds (reasons) of objection.

In a Lawyer Client costs dispute there is no fee payable for filing an application for a Summons for Taxation within time, but fees may be payable if you seek to file an application for leave to file a Summons for Taxation out of time.

A fee is payable in the Party Party costs dispute.

If the Costs Court reduces the bill in a Lawyer Client costs dispute by:

• more than one sixth (if you first instructed your solicitors prior to 12 December 2005), or
• more than 15 per cent  (if you first instructed your solicitors on or after 12 December 2005)

Then the Costs Court may order that the lawyer/s (respondent/s) pay the costs of the taxation process.

If, however, the bill in a Lawyer Client costs dispute is not reduced by:

• more than one sixth (if you first instructed your solicitors prior to 12 December 2005), or
• more than 15 per cent  (if you first instructed your solicitors on or after 12 December 2005)

The Costs Court may order that you pay the costs which your solicitor/s has incurred because of the costs dispute and the taxation process.

Review of taxation decisions of the Costs Court:

• There is a 14 day time limit to seek a review or reconsideration.
• If the taxation of costs is conducted by a Costs Registrar, the review is conducted by a Judicial Registrar (Rule 63.56.2(2)).
• If the Judicial Registrar conducts the taxation, the application is referred to the Judicial Registrar to reconsider (Rule 63.56.2(1)).
• If the taxation of costs is conducted by a Costs Judge the application is referred to the Costs Judge to reconsider (Rule 63.56.1(1). The decision of a Judicial Registrar (on review of a Costs Registrar or on reconsideration by the Judicial Registrar) can be reviewed by a Costs Judge (Rule 63.56.4(1)).
• The decision of a Costs Judge (on reconsideration by the Costs Judge or on review of the Judicial Registrar) can be reviewed by a Judge (Rule 63.57).