New South Wales Consolidated Acts

LEGAL AID COMMISSION ACT 1979 - SECT 40

40 Assessment of costs

(1) To assist in the determination of costs of which the Commission has agreed to pay a proportion to a private legal practitioner to whom work has been assigned by the Commission, the Commission has the same rights to require the private legal practitioner to have a bill of costs assessed or taxed in relation to that work as it would have if the Commission (and not the legally assisted person on whose behalf the work was done) were the client of the private legal practitioner.

(1A) In addition, a person who is required to pay an amount under section 46 (1) has the same rights to require the private legal practitioner who provided legal services to the person as a legally assisted person to have a bill of costs assessed or taxed in relation to the work done by the practitioner on behalf of that person as the person would have if the person were not a legally assisted person.

(2) No objection shall be made under this or any other Act or law to the assessment or taxation of a bill of costs relating to work done on behalf of a legally assisted person on the basis that the costs were not incurred by the legally assisted person but were incurred by another person on his or her behalf.