The previous post reported on how summary assessment was conducted in a High Court case. This led me to look at the guidance that is available in relation to preparing a bill for summary assessment and also for hearing of the summary assessment itself. The assessment is normally done immediately...
Having given a number of seminars about maximising the recovery of costs on summary assessment my number 1 tip would be same as DJ Lethem – make sure that counsel or any other advocate is properly briefed in relation to costs. What is the point of winning if your client still ends up considerably out of pocket because all your efforts were put into making sure that counsel was sufficiently briefed in relation to the substance of the application and only an afterthought was given to the question of how the costs are justifiable.