Legal Profession Act 2008

Legal Practitioners (State Administrative Tribunal) Determination 2010

 

Legal Practitioners (State Administrative Tribunal) Determination 2010

Contents

Part 1 — Preliminary

1.Citation1

Part 2 — Notice and inquiries

2.Notice under section 278 of the Act2

3.Inquiries and submissions under section 277 of the Act2

Part 3 — Report of committee’s conclusions

4.Hourly rates and scale of costs established3

Schedule

1.Citation4

2.Commencement4

3.Application4

4.No minimum charge4

5.Hourly rates4

6.Costs5

Notes

Compilation table7

 

Legal Profession Act 2008

Legal Practitioners (State Administrative Tribunal) Determination 2010

Part 1 — Preliminary

1.Citation

(1)This Report may be cited as the Legal Practitioners (State Administrative Tribunal) Report 2010.

(2)The Determination set out in the Schedule to this report is referred to in this report as the Legal Practitioners (State Administrative Tribunal) Determination 2010.

Part 2 — Notice and inquiries

2.Notice under section 278 of the Act

The Legal Costs Committee has complied with the notice provisions of section 278 of the Act.

3.Inquiries and submissions under section 277 of the Act

(a)Before making the Legal Practitioners (State Administrative Tribunal) Determination 2010 the Legal Costs Committee —

(1)reviewed all submissions received as a result of the notice given under section 278 of the Act;

(2)consulted with the Tribunal;

(3)consulted with The Law Society of Western Australia (Inc), the Western Australian Bar Association (Inc); and

(4)had regard to relevant provisions of the State Administrative Tribunal Act 2004.

(b)The Legal Costs Committee acknowledges that the overriding philosophy of the Tribunal, as expressed through its enabling legislation, is that parties appearing before the Tribunal are to bear their own costs of proceedings.

However, the Legal Costs Committee also recognises that there are many types of matters heard before the Tribunal which are of a substantial nature in respect of which legal advice may be sought, but not necessarily made the subject of any costs orders in the Tribunal.

Consequentially, and in light of the costs disclosure obligations contained in the Act, the Legal Costs Committee considers it is appropriate to determine a scale of fees on a legal practitioner/client basis as established under the Legal Practitioners (State Administrative Tribunal) Determination 2008 2.

Part 3 — Report of committee’s conclusions

4.Hourly rates and scale of costs established

The Legal Costs Committee has determined that as a consequence of the information gained as a result of the inquiries, the submissions described in clause 3, and having regard to the provisions of the State Administrative Tribunal Act 2004 and the State Administrative Tribunal Rules 2004 —

(a)it is unnecessary as at the date of this Report to recommend the implementation of a scale of fees in the Tribunal in respect of party/party costs; but

(b)as a consequence of the costs disclosure provisions in the Act, it is appropriate to continue to determine a scale of fees applicable to the work of legal practitioners, clerks and paralegals in, and in connection with the Tribunal on a legal practitioner/client basis; and

(c)the recommendations of the Legal Costs Committee are not intended to override the entitlement of a practitioner to make a written agreement as to costs with a client under the Act.

 

Schedule

Legal Profession Act 2008

Legal Practitioners (State Administrative Tribunal) Determination 2010

Made by the Legal Costs Committee under section 275 of the Legal Profession Act 2008 (Act).

1.Citation

This Determination may be cited as the Legal Practitioners (State Administrative Tribunal) Determination 2010.

2.Commencement

This Determination comes into operation on 1 October 2010.

3.Application

This Determination applies to the remuneration of legal practitioners, clerks and paralegals in respect of advice given by legal practitioners in or for the purposes of proceedings or potential proceedings before the State Administrative Tribunal.

4.No minimum charge

In no respect is this Determination to be seen as providing a minimum charge for any work.

5.Hourly rates

The hourly and daily rates set out in the Table to this clause are the maximum hourly and daily rates, inclusive of GST, which the Legal Costs Committee determines shall be used to calculate the dollar amounts chargeable by a legal practitioner, clerk or paralegal in providing advice and services to their own clients in respect of proceedings and potential proceedings in the State Administrative Tribunal under the State Administrative Tribunal Act 2004.

Table

Fee Earner

Maximum allowable rates

Senior Practitioner (admitted for 5 years or more)

(SP)ª — hourly rate

 

$352

Junior Practitioner (admitted for less than 5 years)

(JP)ª — hourly rate

 

$253

Clerk/Paralegal

(C/PL) — hourly rate

 

$121

Counsel fees charged as a disbursement to practitioners or charged by in‑house Counsel

Counsel (C)* — hourly rate

daily rate

$275

$2,750

Senior Counsel (SC)ß— hourly rate

daily rate

$462

$4,620

ªThe reference to Junior Practitioner or to Senior Practitioner in this Determination includes all Australian legal practitioners even if the services were rendered in another State or Territory. Where a local legal practitioner has held an interstate practice certificate, the length of admission in that other jurisdiction is to be counted in assessing that practitioner’s years of admission for the purposes of this Determination.

*The reference to Counsel in this Determination means a practitioner acting as a barrister other than as Senior Counsel.

ßThe reference to Senior Counsel in this Determination includes reference to Queens Counsel or Senior Counsel appointed in Western Australia, or appointed in any State or Territory in Australia and whose appointment is afforded recognition by the Chief Justice of Western Australia.

6.Costs

Unless a practitioner has made a written agreement as to costs with a client under the provisions of section 282 of the Act, the costs of or in relation to a party to an action or other proceeding (inclusive of GST and Counsel fees but exclusive of other disbursements) in the Tribunal are payable to a party to that party’s own legal practitioner, but shall not exceed an amount calculated at the hourly rates in this Determination.

 

Notes

1This is a compilation of the Legal Practitioners (State Administrative Tribunal) Determination 2010. The following table contains information about this determination.

Compilation table

Citation

Gazettal

Commencement

Legal Practitioners (State Administrative Tribunal) Determination 2010

21 Sep 2010 p. 4803-4

1 Oct 2010 (see cl. 2)

 

2Published in Government Gazette dated 16 December 2008.