During my mundane day I signed off a bill for a big Crown Court case. A few years ago I billed all of the Crown Court cases that I dealt with so when a big case finished I always had the horrible task of making sense of my notes and turning attendance notes in to pound notes.
This bill that I signed off came in at just under £20,000 worth of work before an uplift. I am happy to say that a lot of that work was done by my fair hand. The bill has been prepared by one of the Costs Draughtsmen employed by my firm and this particular bill seeks an uplift for attendance and preparation work. This means that whatever work has been done is sought to be paid at a slightly higher rate on the basis that the case was complex.
When I see these sizeable criminal legal aid bills it makes me think that there is still some money to be made in criminal defence work. If the uplift is applied to the case it should cover the cost of employing two trainee solicitors or paralegals for a year.
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