The following are intended to be guidelines only and may be varied according to individual circumstances.
1. Save only in exceptional circumstances (for example where the case is one of exceptional weight and complexity requiring lengthy preparation):-
a) No stage payments shall be made in respect of brief fees unless the case is listed for 12 days or more hearing; and
b) Stage payments shall be payable no sooner than a period prior to the hearing equal in length to the estimated period of hearing (a reasonable allowance having been made for any period of vacation), and in any event no sooner than a period of six months prior to the hearing.
2. The Barrister receiving stage payments shall be available for the hearing. If for any exceptional and wholly unavoidable reason he subsequently becomes unavailable, notification of unavailability shall be given to the Instructing Solicitors as soon as is reasonably practicable. In such a case no further stage payments shall become due, and if fees have previously been paid they shall be repaid ass soon as is reasonably practicable. Notwithstanding the foregoing, payment at an agreed or appropriate hourly rate shall be made for work carried out from which the client has derived benefit and which does not require duplication.
3. A barrister entitled to receive stage payments shall, save where unavoidably prevented, ensure that he has adequate time and opportunity to prepare the case in question and shall notify the Instructing Solicitor in advance if he is to be unavailable for any significant period.
4. A schedule of stage payments (specifying both the date and time when such payments fall due) shall be agreed in advance. If the case settles prior to the hearing, the only instalment(s) which is/are payable are those which have already become due on or before the appropriate date in accordance with that schedule.
5. Save as is expressly set out in paragraph 6 below or otherwise agreed (and save for any ancillary travelling, accommodation or other expenses of a like nature which may be separately agreed) the brief fee and refreshers (including any instalments due and payable in accordance with the schedule) cover all preparation and other work which will be carried out relating to and/or in connection with the case from the date when the first stage payment is due.
6. For the avoidance of doubt, refreshers include all consultations/conferences before and after the hearing on sitting days. Unless otherwise agreed, consultations/conferences on non-sitting days after the commencement of the hearing will be charged for at the refresher rate for a full day or part thereof pro rata. Written submissions are included within the brief fee unless agreed otherwise between the Barrister and the Instructing solicitor.
7.
a) In the event that the hearing is adjourned or vacated before its commencement the Barrister will keep instalments already incurred and will be paid a reasonable sum for any work carried out up to the date of the adjournment or vacation and not covered by the previous instalments. In respect of any subsequent hearing, the Barrister shall only be paid any instalments of the brief fee which have not become payable and in appropriate circumstances a reasonable reading-in fee.
b) In the event that the hearing is adjourned part heard no further brief fee will be paid but the Barrister and Instructing Solicitor may agree in appropriate circumstances that a reasonable reading-in fee should be paid.
8. For the avoidance of doubt, fee notes shall be submitted and fees shall be paid in accordance with "the Terms of Work on which Barristers offer their Services to Solicitors and the Withdrawal of Credit Scheme 1988".
8th August 1994
NOTE ON ORBA GUIDELINES FOR BARRISTERS' FEES
The guidelines were agreed with ORBA on the basis that ORBA would recommend that they should form the basis of negotiations between their members' Chambers and Solicitors. Subsequently, after a meeting between representatives of ORSA and ORBA and Master Hurst, the Chief Taxing Master, Master Hurst agreed that, on the face of it, the proposed agreement (guidelines) appeared reasonable subject, of course, to the quantum of fees involved.