The Advice and Assistance (Scotland) (Consolidation and Amendment) Regulations 1996

PART I S TABLE OF FEES ALLOWABLE TO SOLICITORS FOR ASSISTANCE BY WAY OF REPRESENTATION

1.  Subject to paragraph 3 of this Part, the fees allowable to a solicitor for providing assistance by way of representation shall be– S

(a) £70 for attendance at, and all work prior to–

(i) any diet at which a plea to the competency or relevancy of the complaint or proceedings, or a plea in bar of trial, is tendered;

(ii) any diet at which a question within the meaning of rule 113 of the Act of Adjournal (Consolidation) 1988 M1 is raised;

(iii) any diet at which there is tendered a plea of guilty;

(iv) any diet at which the court is considering the accused’s plea of guilty to the charges and where there has been no change of plea; and

(v) any diet at which the court is considering the accused’s changed plea of guilty to the charges, and where no application for criminal legal aid has been made;

(b) fees, as undernoted, for work other than or subsequent to that described in (a) above–

1 The fee for–

(i) any time up to the first half hour spent by a solicitor appearing in court or conducting another hearing shall be £27.40;

(ii) each quarter hour (or part thereof) subsequent to the first half hour spent in court or conducting another hearing shall be £13.70.

2 The fee for–

(i) each quarter hour (or part thereof) spent by a solicitor in carrying out work other than that prescribed in paragraphs 1 and 3 to 5 hereof, provided that any time is additional to the total time charged for under paragraph 1 above, shall be £10.55;

(ii) for each quarter hour (or part thereof) spent by a solicitor’s clerk in carrying out work other than that prescribed in paragraphs 3 to 5 hereof shall be £5.25.

3 The fee for–

(i) each citation of a witness including execution thereof;

(ii) framing and drawing precognitions and other necessary papers, subject to paragraph 4(iii) below – per sheet (or part thereof);

(iii) instructing messengers-at-arms and sheriff officers, including examining execution and settling fee;

(iv) lengthy telephone calls (of over 4 and up to 10 minutes duration); and

(v) letters, including instructions to counsel, subject to paragraph 4(ii) below – per page (or part thereof),

shall be £6.00.

4 The fee for–

(i) attendance at court offices for performance of formal work including each necessary lodging in or uplifting from court or each necessary enquiry for documents due to be lodged;

(ii) short letters of a formal nature, intimations and letters confirming telephone calls;

(iii) framing formal papers, including inventories and title pages – per sheet (or part thereof);

(iv) revising papers drawn by counsel or where revisal ordered by court – per 5 sheets (or part thereof); and

(v) short telephone calls (of up to 4 minutes duration),

shall be £2.40.

5 Where an exceptional amount of copying proves necessary, a fee of 35 pence shall be paid for each sheet.

Marginal Citations

M1 S.I. 1988/110.

Interpretation S

2.  In paragraph 1 of this Part–

• a “sheet" shall consist of 250 words or numbers;

• a “page" shall consist of 125 words or numbers; and

• “exceptional" means the production of more than 20 output copy sheets (whether 20 of 1 sheet, 5 of 4 sheets or whatever) when a document has been copied.

Petition by debtor for sequestration S

3.  The fees allowable to a solicitor for providing assistance by way of representation in relation to a petition by a debtor for the sequestration of his estate under section 5(2)(a) of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1985 M2 shall be–

(a) £27.40 for any time spent by a solicitor appearing in court in connection with the petition; and

(b) £45 for all other work in connection with the petition.

Marginal Citations

M2 1985 c.66; section 5(2)(a) was amended by section 3(2) of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1993 (c.6).