Interpretation
2. In this Order:
“the Act” means the Access to Justice Act 1999;
“advocate” means a barrister, or a solicitor who has obtained a higher courts advocacy qualification in accordance with regulations and rules of conduct of the Law Society;
“appropriate category”, in relation to a Very High Cost Case, means the category to which the case is assigned in accordance with article 14;
“appropriate officer” means:
in the case of proceedings in the criminal division of the Court of Appeal, the registrar of criminal appeals (“the registrar”);
in the case of proceedings in the High Court, a Costs Judge;
in the case of proceedings in the Crown Court, an officer appointed by the Lord Chancellor;
in respect of advice or assistance as to an appeal from the Crown Court to the Court of Appeal, (except in the case of an appeal under section 9(11) of the Criminal Justice Act 1987(1)) where, on the advice of any representative assigned, notice of appeal is given, or application for leave to appeal is made, whether or not such appeal is later abandoned, the registrar;
in respect of advice or assistance as to an appeal to the Courts-Martial Appeal Court, the registrar;
in respect of advice or assistance as to an appeal from the Court of Appeal to the House of Lords, where the appeal is not lodged with the House of Lords, the registrar; and
in any other case, the Commission
and, in any case, includes an officer designated by the appropriate officer to act on his behalf in that regard;
“CDS Regulations” means regulations made under Part I of the Act relating to the Criminal Defence Service;
“the Commission” means the Legal Services Commission established under section 1 of the Act;
“the Contract” means the General Criminal Contract, published by the Commission in February 2001;
“Costs Committee” means a committee appointed under arrangements made by the Commission to deal with, inter alia, applications for appeal against, or review of, assessments of costs;
“funded services” means services which are provided directly for a client and funded for that client as part of the Criminal Defence Service under sections 12 to 18 of the Act;
“a representation order” means a document granting a right to representation;
“a representative” means a solicitor or a barrister;
“VAT” means Value Added Tax; and
“a Very High Cost Case” is a case with regard to which:
if the case proceeds to trial, that trial would be likely to last for 25 days or longer; or
the defence costs with regard to any one defendant (or group of defendants represented by the same firm of solicitors) are likely to amount to £150,000 or greater (such sum to include the solicitor’s fees and disbursements, counsel’s fees, and VAT)
and any question as to whether a case fulfills the criteria in (a) or (b) above shall be decided by an officer appointed by the Lord Chancellor in a case which falls within article 6, and by the Commission in a case which falls within article 9.