TERMS OF BUSINESS

Charges
Fees are reviewed annually on 1 April in line with guidelines published by Liverpool County Court for grade 4 (D) fee earners, and in the case of detailed assessment hearings/consultancy, grade 3 (C) fee earners.

Credit terms
45 days net from date of invoice.

Interest
Interest may be charged on invoices which are not settled by the due date, calculated at 8% above the Bank of England base rate in accordance with the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, as amended, and the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations 2002.

Reductions
(a) Where the fees of Gilligan & Company are reduced on detailed assessment, Gilligan & Company will issue a refund of the difference between the amount paid to them and the amount assessed by the Court provided that:

(i) notification of any such reduction is received within 7 days of the assessment hearing in order to preserve appeal rights
(ii) the original invoice was settled within the agreed credit terms
(iii) the Bill of Costs was lodged at court within the 3 month time limit imposed by Rule 47.7 of the Civil Procedure Rules and the Costs Practice Direction supplementing Part 47
(iv) the fee was not reduced as a punitive sanction due to the conduct of the instructing solicitor
(v) the fee was not reduced as a result of any orders in respect of costs that were made during the course of the proceedings
(vi) the fee was not reduced as a result of matters outside the control of Gilligan & Company
(vii) the fee was not reduced as a result of matters of which Gilligan & Company had no knowledge when drafting the Bill of Costs where that knowledge would have affected the manner in which Gilligan & Company prepared the Bill of Costs

(b) Where costs are agreed between the parties without the need for a detailed assessment hearing the fee of Gilligan & Company will not be reduced unless any proposed reduction is agreed by Gilligan & Company prior to settlement.

(c) Where the fees of Gilligan & Company are calculated on a percentage basis Gilligan & Company will not accept any reduction following detailed assessment.

Advice/opinions
Where Gilligan & Company offers comments or recommendations concerning any Bill of Costs and legislation/case law that might affect recoverability of the costs claimed, such comments will be understood to be merely an opinion and no responsibility will be accepted by Gilligan & Company, its partners or employees for any losses incurred by acting upon such comments or recommendations.

November 2002