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Software for Law Costs Draftsmen |
| CostsMaster 2 Features | |
| CostsMaster Draftsman Edition brings to you the following features: | |
| Bill types: 3 column CLS, 3 column inter partes, 6 column CLS/inter partes, 4 column Central Funds, CLAIM1, N252 and Breakdowns of Costs | |
| CLAIM1: Work is recorded in the standard way and can be exported either as a Bill or a CLAIM1 depending on the total of the bill. The CLAIM1 form is created for you by CostsMaster - no form-filling is required. | |
| CLAIM1A: Record your work as usual, specify the factors that determine the fixed fee (location and who you are acting for) and CostsMaster will produce the appropriate form either claiming the fixed fee if the threshold is not exceeded or producing a detailed claim if the case is exceptional. If work covers the Family Proceedings Court and higher courts, provided the work is recorded in separate parts CostsMaster will automatically place it into the appropriate section of the form. CostsMaster even supports composite CLAIM1As for work in the FPC to be assessed by the LSC together with work already assessed by the Court including the correct analysis of whether the case is exceptional based on the combined costs. | |
| VAT can be excluded and claimed at different rates for each part | |
| Rates can be defined globally, for each part or just for parts where the rates change. | |
| Fee Earners. Work can be recorded against fee earners which is then automatically aggregated to the appropriate rates for the finished bill. The draftsman has the flexibility to break down the work in any manner he wishes and to decide at any time how to present the work in the finished bill. All work can be reassigned to different fee earners at will. | |
| Schedules of inter partes costs at CLS rates are calculated automatically | |
| Enhancement can be defined globally, for one or more defined periods, for all work done by a particular fee earner, for attendances on a particular party or for any other item you wish. Each attendance can be excluded as can all attendances on a particular party or all work by a particular fee earner. Separate enhancement can be defined for preparation items and procedural steps. Items which never attract enhancement are automatically excluded | |
| Success Fees are automatically calculated for the solicitor and counsel and if appropriate are automatically limited pro rata between the solicitor and counsel | |
| Program functions can be accessed by mouse or by keyboard shortcut for speed when costing a file | |
| Safety features include timed auto saves and incremental backups to preserve data in the event of a system crash. | |
| Work can be recorded as a procedural step, as work against a party, as Documents or travelling and waiting. | |
| Parties can be defined at will. Work can be recorded against parties as telephone calls, letters out, letters in, personal attendances, long telephone calls or "extra" attendances. Keyboard shortcuts make recording routine work as simple as two keystrokes. | |
| Disbursements can be recorded for procedural steps, parties, travelling and waiting, costs of assessment or as miscellaneous disbursements. Auto calculate features calculate VAT and mileage for you. | |
| Time can be entered interchangeably as minutes, units or hours and minutes and the program will automatically interpret the time you have recorded | |
| Costs of Assessment can be claimed and provision is made for fixed prescribed rate costs. The costs draftsman's fee can be claimed as a percentage and is calculated automatically | |
| Templates allow the saving of frequently entered data to save you time when starting a new file | |
| The finished bill is automatically calculated and assembled in Word to allow you the flexibility of finalising the document in an industrial strength word processor. There are nearly 100 common phrases that are used in the finished bill all of which are user definable to allow you to create a bill that is as personal to you as if you had dictated it. | |
| The finished bill is produced either with red lines embedded or on blank paper for draftsmen who have their paper printed. | |
| Document Schedules. You have the option for documents and long attendances to be included entirely in the bill, entirely in a schedule or in a schedule where they exceed a definable number. The settings for documents and long attendances can be different. | |
| The narrative and other windows have the benefit of a spell checker | |
| Abbreviations can be defined for frequently used words and phrases which are immediately expanded to their full text - a huge time saver. | |
| A list of the features that will be included in future versions of the program can be found here. | |
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