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29 November 2024 / David Bailey-Vella
Issue: 8096 / Categories: Features , Profession , Costs
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Provisional assessment: worth the risk?

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Use of these assessments is on the wane, but a good understanding is as important to practitioners as ever, writes David Bailey-Vella
  • Provisional assessment is a streamlined process, used to resolve costs disputes in cases where a full detailed assessment is not deemed necessary, up to a value of £75,000.
  • The recent case of Christodoulides v Holbech highlights the importance for both practitioners and litigants in person of having a working knowledge of the rules on assessments, and how and when to challenge an outcome.

As a practitioner, I have noticed a decrease in the number of provisional assessments over the past 12 months. While this could be due to a number of reasons, one assumes this might, in part, be due to the extension to fixed recoverable costs. However, having knowledge of the nature of these assessments and their corresponding rules is as important today as it was at the introduction of CPR 47.15, implemented to reduce the burden of the court from detailed assessment hearings.

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