The High Court has quashed a Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator’s decision that H.J. Ward LLP was out of time to seek consideration of a costs determination involving its former client, Hannah Siewert.
In a judgment delivered on 4 March 2025, Mr Justice Conleth Bradley held that the 14-day period under section 160 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 covers decisions on both the charges in a solicitor-client bill and the costs of the adjudication. The adjudicator’s decision of 29 April 2024 had treated the application as late because the period began in February 2020.
The dispute arose after Ms Siewert ended the firm’s retainer in August 2019. The firm’s bill of costs was referred for adjudication. On 14 February 2020, the adjudicator issued a written determination addressing, among other matters, the solicitor’s instruction fee, counsel’s brief fees and postages. The adjudication continued through later proceedings, including a July 2022 determination that the firm was responsible for the adjudication costs under the Act’s 15 per cent threshold.
Ward applied for consideration of the February 2020 determination on 19 July 2022. The adjudicator refused the application in April 2024, concluding that the 14-day limit had started on 14 February 2020 or, at the latest, 21 February 2020, when figures were recorded on the bill. By then, the adjudicator had also determined the adjudication costs on 16 May 2024, according to evidence before the court.
Justice Bradley found that the statutory scheme links the determination of charges with the consequences under section 158, which allocates responsibility for adjudication costs. He concluded that the adjudication determination includes those costs, and that the adjudicator had therefore wrongly omitted them when deciding when the review period began.
The court granted certiorari, quashing the 29 April 2024 decision that Ward’s application was out of time. It proposed remitting the matter to the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator, but did not decide the date on which the 14-day period began in this case or determine the underlying review application. The applicant was invited to address whether directions should accompany the remittal. The matter was listed for mention on 11 March 2025 to address directions and any consequential matters.