Litigators Support to Advocates

When solicitors can attend court with counsel

Note - For Representation Orders granted after 30th April 2007 The Criminal Defence Service (Funding) Order 2007 applies and the statutory references appear in brackets.

In the types of hearings listed in The Criminal Defence Service (Funding) Order Schedule 1 Paragraph 12(8) {Schedule 2 Part 1 Paragraph 2(7)} that is:

• trials,
• cases listed for a plea after a plea and direction hearing,
• committals for sentence,
• appeals against sentence,
• appeals against conviction,

work specified in paragraph 12(1)(c) {2(1)(b)}  i.e. "attendance at court where advocate is assigned" cannot be paid unless one of the following applies:

• It is a Class 1 or 2 offence (12(7)(a)) {2(6)(a)}
• It is a SFO case or CJA 1987 transfer (12(7)(b)) {2(6)(b)}
• The defendant under 18  at date of committal or transfer (12(7)(c)) {2(6)(c)}
• The defendant is unable to understand the case or give instructions because of lack of English or because of mental illness (12(7)(d)) {2(6)(d)}
• The defendant is likely to receive a custodial sentence (12(7)(e)) {2(6)(e)} - for trials this means, in effect, the last day (12(9)(a)) {2(8)(a)} or the sentence day (12(9)(b)) {2(8)(b)} and for committals for sentence and conviction appeals this applies only if the result is likely to be a custodial sentence
• A Certificate has been granted by the court (12(7)(f)) {2(6)(f)} Note: Judges can grant these Certificates for all or part of the case (12(10A)) {2(10)} and it can be granted at any time at or after the plea and directions hearing (12(10B)) {2(11)}}

Difficulties have arisen in respect of payment for attendance at court during trials because some Courts do not issue certificates but give a verbal indication in Court.

The National Taxing Team have agreed the following approach when determining such claims:

• A certificate should be produced where appropriate.
• If no certificate has been issued by the court practitioners should obtain proof from the court that such an order was made.
• If the practitioner informs the determining officer that he/she has been unable to obtain evidence of the granting of a certificate the determining officer will request confirmation from the court that such an order was made. At this stage any FASTRAK claims will be taken out of the FASTRAK system.
• It will not be acceptable in FASTRAK cases to accept an endorsement on the FASTRAK pro-forma.

Outside this scheme are:

• Bail applications
• PDH's
• Mentions and other pre-trial applications