HISTORY Before the establishment of Bills of Cost, attorneys had little choice but to prepare and tax their own bills of costs. This is often, a tedious task involving long hours of unproductive labour which frequently results in an under-recovery of expenses due to inaccuracy in an attempt to save time. In 1977 the founder […]

As per the directives of 10 August 2020 by the Office of  the Judge President of the Western Cape High Court, Taxation of legal bills will be conducted as follows: Taxations may be done via the following online platforms: Microsoft Teams or Zoom, where possible. The party presenting the bill may in consultation with the […]

The Legal Practice Counsel has been requested by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development to provide him with “an assessment of the current business and economic impact of the Covid – 19 measures “ The impact of the lockdown on the various categories of legal practitioners may not necessarily be catastrophic on each individual […]

After much uncertainty regarding the taxation of legal bills at the Cape Town High Court, the following arrangements has been confirmed going forward in relation to taxation of opposed and un-opposed bills of costs : OPPOSED taxations will be conducted in Court 14 in order to effectively maintain social distancing. This arrangement will stay in place […]

Judge President JM Hlophe, on 11 May 2020, published the new directives for the Western Cape Division following the move to Level 4 of the lockdown regulations. Unfortunately, the directive regarding TAXATIONS was inconclusive and a bit vague as it merely directed the Chief Registrar, in consultation with the Taxing Master, to develop a “manner” […]

Following the announcement on 25 April to advance the countrywide lockdown from level 5 to level 4 as from 1 May, a fair number of business sectors will now be able to resume certain activities, but conditionally. Most of the lockdown conditions will remain in place and social distancing and related safety protocols will remain […]

An attorney whom the client approaches preliminary is known as the instructing attorney. An attorney who continues the work at the instructing attorney’s instance is referred to as the correspondent (or attorney at the seat of the court) Where a litigant resides away from the place where legal proceedings are instituted, he is entitled to […]

The practice of an Advocate accepting instructions from an attorney on behalf of a client has been preserved by the Courts and in the interest of the public. See: De Freitas & Another v Society of Advocates of Natal 2001(3) SA 750 (SCA) Advocates are not legislated to have trust accounts that can make the […]

It has long been held in our Court that where an attorney does not at qua attorney, his costs are not sunject to taxation by any authority ; he is not obliged to prepare a bill of cost and, furthermore, is not bound by any tariff. This does not mean that where there is no […]