The Magistrates’ Courts and County Court Appeals (Criminal Legal Aid) (Costs) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2009

Very High Cost Cases

9.—(1) A representative shall—

(a) where the circumstances prescribed at paragraph (3) exist; and

(b) subject to the conditions prescribed at paragraph (5),

instead of receiving the standard fee specified in Schedule 1, be paid in accordance with the provisions in rule 10.

(2) It shall be for the Commission to determine whether the circumstances prescribed at paragraph (3) exist, and whether the conditions prescribed at paragraph (5) are met; and if the Commission decides that those circumstances do not exist, or that those conditions are not met, the standard fee provided for in Schedule 1 shall apply and no other uplift shall be payable.

(3) The circumstances referred to in paragraph (1)(a) are where an assisted person would be deprived of the right to a fair trial in any case because of the amount of the standard fee payable under Schedule 1.

(4) The factors to be taken into account by the Commission in considering whether the circumstances prescribed at paragraph (3) exist shall include—

(a) whether the number and nature of witnesses is significantly greater than that in other cases involving the same offence;

(b) whether the volume and nature of evidence is significantly greater than that in other cases involving the same offence;

(c) the complexity of the law (including procedural complexity);

(d) whether the assisted person may be unable to understand the proceedings.

(5) The conditions referred to in paragraph (1)(b) are as follows—

(a) the representative shall make an application to the Commission—

(i) in such manner and form; and

(ii) containing such information,

as it may specify, at as early a stage following the grant of the criminal aid certificate as is reasonably practicable and that representative shall, if required by the Commission to do so, supply such further information or such documents as the Commission may require to enable it to determine the application;

(b) that representative shall keep proper records, in accordance with paragraph (6), of all work done and any outlays incurred under the criminal aid certificate, whether before or after the Commission exercises its power to determine whether the conditions prescribed at paragraph (5)(a) are met; and

(c) the representative shall provide periodic reports and projections as to the future costs of the case to the Commission at such times and in such a form as the Commission shall direct.

(6) Where the Commission determines that the circumstances prescribed at paragraph (3) exist, and that the condition prescribed at paragraph (5)(a) is met, it shall require the representative (or each representative, as applicable)—

(a) to record contemporaneously the number of hours the representative spends in preparation work on the case, together with a short description of the nature of the work performed on each occasion and a note of the fee-earner performing that work, as applicable; and

(b) to maintain such records in a permanently accessible format.