Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Re K and Re S: guidance on experts’ fees in public law children cases—LAA prior authority, exceptionality and when local authorities should cover shortfalls (England and Wales)

Published on: 16 May 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Family expert

Legal News

Article summary

Re K and Re S (Legal Aid: Experts’ Fees) [2025] EWFC 100 What are the practical implications of this case?

In his judgment, President McFarlane set out the LAA’s amended guidance, alongside general principles to follow when instructing experts who propose a higher charging rate or a greater number of hours than those stipulated in the LAA guidelines, and he supplied model wording for court orders addressing this issue.

Moving forward, practitioners must now demonstrate, in any application to the LAA for prior authority where experts’ fees exceed the stated hourly rates or hours, that the case’s complexity demands an expert of high seniority, or that the material is so specialised and unusual that only a very small number of experts are available to report. The updated guidance also permits reliance on additional criteria, namely the total cost of the work, the speed at which it must be completed, any identified shortage of experts, and any other exceptional reason, thus acknowledging that there may not always be a wide choice of experts and that there can be other reasons why a particular expert is required...

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