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We have vast collective and individual experience of all areas of Legal Aid work throughout our national network of offices
This experience has been developed from our original foundations and spans the full 30 years of the Company’s history. There have been many significant changes in this period, especially within the last few years, and we remain committed to providing a full legal aid costing service covering all categories of legal aid work and all aspects of legal aid billing (criminal and civil).
As part of our service we can offer the following:
- CLAIM1/CLAIM1A and CLAIM2 forms
- CCMS bills
- Court Bills of costs to be recovered from the LAA
- Court Bills of costs to be recovered from a paying/losing party (see Inter Partes for full detail of services)
- High cost case plans
- Legal Help claims
- Appeals against LAA assessments and rejections
- Representation at court for assessment hearings
- Post assessment claims and EX80 forms
- Troubleshooting
- Training
Why use John M Hayes for your legal aid costing?
Improved Cash Flow
With our network of regional offices we can deal with your files expeditiously, allowing for earlier payment from the LAA
Fully Tailored Service
We can provide you with a bespoke service designed to meet your costing needs, whether that be using some of our services to enhance your current internal systems, or outsourcing the whole process, we are here to help.
In House Costing
We can provide a draftsman to carry out the work at your offices. Read more about the benefits of our in-house costing service here.
Electronic / Remote Working
We have experience in working directly from a case management system rather than from hard copies of the files. This can be done in-house but also can be done via remote access to your system or using a read onlyprogram to access files that you send to us using a password protected disc / USB stick.
CCMS Specialists
We have been using the system since 2013 and are perfectly placed to deal with all of your billing for you and guide you through the pitfalls of managing your costs in CCMS. We use the claim upload process in CCMS which is a more efficient way of billing in CCMS. Read more about claim upload here.
Training
With our wealth of experience and long-standing existence in the costs market together with our own in-house training of our Costs Draftsmen and Costs Lawyers we are in a prime position to be able to offer external training to fee earners on the frequently changing world of legal costs. The focus is on ensuring that firms are able to maximise their legal aid costs and minimise rejections. We can offer training in a variety of ways and you can find out more here.
Assistance in Improving your KPIs
It has never been more important to ensure that you are not encountering difficulties with Key Performance Indicators. We can assist by helping reduce the number of rejected claims both by:
- Ensuring that your claims meet the Legal Aid Agency’s submission requirements
- Contesting incorrect rejections on your behalf
Troubleshooting
Our expertise and extensive knowledge of the Legal Aid Agency’s guidance and requirements allows us to provide advice on specific issues that may arise either during the conduct of the case or at the billing stage. This can include advice on difficulties encountered with the scope of a certificate, reviewing rejected / reduced claims for costs, advising on whether a case is likely to qualify for enhancement and whether a costs increase is required.
Competitive & Flexible Charging Arrangements
We can offer competitive and flexible arrangements that suit your specific requirements. Our time can be included in Court bills and certain types of claim forms so that it is claimed back from the Legal Aid Agency. We will help to ensure that you are claiming for everything you are entitled to and identify appropriate enhancements where applicable; this can often be overlooked and the additional costs generated can in some cases pay for our fee in itself.