Schedule NEW SCHEDULE 3 TO BE SUBSTITUTED IN PRINCIPAL REGULATIONS

“SCHEDULE 3

TABLE OF FEES ALLOWABLE TO SOLICITORS

Regulation 16

PART I

TABLE OF FEES ALLOWABLE TO SOLICITORS FOR ASSISTANCE BY WAY OF REPRESENTATION

The fees allowable to a solicitor for providing assistance by way of representation shall be—

(a)

£60 for attendance at, and all work prior to—

(i)

any diet at which a plea to the competency or relevancy of the complaint or proceedings, or a plea in bar of trial, is tendered;

(ii)

any diet at which a question within the meaning of rule 113 of the Act of Adjournal (Consolidation) 1988^f1is raised;

(iii)

any diet at which there is tendered a plea of guilty;

(iv)

any diet at which the court is considering the accused’s plea of guilty to the charges and where there has been no change of plea; and

(v)

any diet at which the court is considering the accused’s changed plea of guilty to the charges, provided that the accused has intimated in writing his intention to change his plea to one of guilty to the prosecutor within 14 days of the diet at which the plea of not guilty was tendered, and where no application for criminal legal aid has been made;

(b)

fees, as undernoted, for work other than or subsequent to that described in (a) above—

1

The fee for:—

(i)

any time up to the first half hour spent by a solicitor appearing in court or conducting another hearing shall be £20.50;

(ii)

each quarter hour subsequent to the first half hour spent in court or conducting another hearing shall be £10.25.

2

The fee for:—

(i)

each quarter hour spent by a solicitor in performing work other than that prescribed in paragraphs 1, 3, 4 and 5 shall be £7.90, provided that any time is additional to the total time charged for under paragraph 1 above.

The work referred to in this sub-paragraph other than prescribed in paragraphs 1, 3, 4 and 5 shall include attending with clients and others, taking precognitions, perusing documents, telephone calls of over 10 minutes duration, preparing for and attending court in all circumstances;

(ii)

for each quarter hour spent by a solicitor’s clerk in performing the work prescribed in sub-paragraph (i) of this paragraph shall be one half of the solicitor’s fee.

3

The fee for:—

(i)

each citation of a witness including execution thereof;

(ii)

framing and drawing precognitions and other necessary papers, subject to paragraph 4(iii)–per sheet;

(iii)

instructing messengers-at-arms and sheriff officers, including examining execution and settling fee;

(iv)

telephone calls other than formal (of up to 10 minutes duration); and

(v)

letters, including instructions to counsel-each page of 125 words, subject to paragraph 4(ii) and (v), shall be £4.50.

4

The fee for:—

(i)

attendance at court offices for performance of formal work including each necessary lodging in or uplifting from court or each necessary enquiry for documents due to be lodged;

(ii)

formal letters and intimations;

(iii)

framing formal documents, including inventories and title pages-per sheet;

(iv)

revising papers drawn by counsel or where revisal ordered by court-per 5 sheets or part thereof; and

(v)

formal telephone calls and letters confirming telephone calls, shall be £1.80.

5

Where an exceptional amount of copying proves necessary, a fee of 10 pence shall bepaid for each page copied of whatever size.

Interpretation

The sheet throughout this table shall consist of 250 words or numbers.

PART II

TABLE OF FEES ALLOWED TO SOLICITORS FOR ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE OTHER THAN ASSISTANCE BY WAY OF REPRESENTATION

1

Subject to paragraph 2 of this Part, the fees allowable to a solicitor shall be calculated as follows—

A.	Time occupied in carrying out work for the client other than work described in paragraphs B to E below—
(i) solicitor — per hour (the fee for any part of the hourly rate being the proportionate part of the hourly rate);	£31.60
(ii) allowance for time of clerk — one half of the above.
B.	For formal letters, formal telephone calls, framing formal documents such as inventories and engrossing formal documents for signature (per sheet of 250 words).	£ 1.80
C.	For letters other than in 1B above (per sheet of 125 words), and non-formal documents other than precognitions (per sheet of 250 words) and telephone calls, other than formal, (of up to 10 minutes duration).	£ 4.50
D.	For taking and drawing precognitions for the first sheet of 250 words or less	£15.80
	for each subsequent sheet of 250 words.	£15.80
	for each subseqeunt sheet of less than 250 words	£ 7.90
E.	Where an exceptional amount of copying proves necessary, a fee of 10 pence shall be paid for each page copied of whatever size.

2

Where the fees which would be allowable to a solicitor in respect of the matter in respect of which advice and assistance was given, calculated in accordance with paragraph 1 above, would amount to less than £15.00 or where a solicitor elects to claim only the fee provided for in this paragraph, a fee of £15.00 shall be allowable in place of the fees so calculated.”