Solicitors Act assessment checker (Solicitors Act 1974, s.70)
check_solicitors_act_assessmentWorks out whether a solicitor's bill can still be assessed under section 70 of the Solicitors Act 1974 (England and Wales), for the client, the firm, a third party who paid it (s.71(1)) or a beneficiary of an estate or trust that paid, or is entitled to pay, it (s.71(3)), from the dates of delivery, payment, judgment and the application: assessment as of right within one month of delivery (s.70(1)), the court's discretion up to 12 months (s.70(2)), special circumstances after 12 months, after judgment or after payment (s.70(3)), and no power more than 12 months after payment (s.70(4)). An emailed bill counts as delivered on the first working day after it was sent (s.69(2F)). Fees taken from money held for the client count as payment only where the client agreed the amount (Oakwood Solicitors Ltd v Menzies [2024] UKSC 34); a part payment is not payment of the bill (Rippon Patel and French LLP v Mowlam [2020] EWHC 1079 (QB)), and an unclear deduction, or a deadline that ended on a day the court office was closed with the claim issued on the next open day (Pritam Kaur), gives both answers. Optionally the one-fifth rule for the costs of the assessment (s.70(9) and (12); Karatysz v SGI Legal LLP [2022] EWCA Civ 1388) and the CPR 46.10 timetable from the order. It never says whether special circumstances exist and never estimates what an assessment would allow.
Tool call template
Replace each placeholder with a value matching the input schema. Only required parameters are included; add optional parameters as needed.
{
"id": 1,
"jsonrpc": "2.0",
"method": "tools/call",
"params": {
"arguments": {
"applicant": "<applicant>"
},
"name": "check_solicitors_act_assessment"
}
}Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| paid | No | Whether the bill has been paid: "no" (not paid), "yes" (paid in full), "part" (part paid). | |
| scope | No | For the one-fifth rule: what is being assessed: "all" (The whole bill), "profit" (Profit costs only (s.70(5))), "other" (Costs other than profit costs). | |
| paidOn | No | The date of payment; for fees taken from money held for the client, the date the client agreed the amount, if later. | |
| applyOn | No | The date the claim for assessment would be issued (defaults to today). | |
| orderOn | No | For the CPR 46.10 timetable: the date of the order for assessment. | |
| paidHow | No | How the bill was paid: "direct" (paid by the client, or for them), "deduction" (taken from money the firm held for the client). | |
| delivery | No | How the bill was delivered: "email" (By email or another electronic means), "post" (By post), "hand" (By hand). | |
| grossSum | No | The bill is a gross sum bill for contentious business (s.64). | |
| judgment | No | Whether the firm has obtained judgment for the costs in the bill. | |
| applicant | Yes | Who would apply for the assessment (a firm checking whether its client can still challenge a bill: client): "client" (The client who was billed), "solicitor" (The solicitor who sent the bill), "third-party" (Someone else who paid, or must pay, the bill), "beneficiary" (A beneficiary of an estate or trust that paid, or is entitled to pay, the bill). | |
| compliant | No | Whether the bill is a statute bill: signed (or sent with a signed letter), delivered by hand, post or, where the client agreed, electronically, and final for the work it covers. | |
| delivered | No | By hand or post: the day the bill arrived. By email ("email"): the day it was sent; s.69(2F) moves delivery to the next working day. | |
| billAmount | No | For the one-fifth rule: the amount of the bill, or of the part being assessed (the total it demands, paid or not), in pounds (e.g. "12500.50"). | |
| agreedAmount | No | Where "deduction": whether the client agreed the amount taken for this bill. | |
| pointsServed | No | The date the points of dispute were served. | |
| assessedAmount | No | For the one-fifth rule: the amount allowed on assessment, or a figure to test, in pounds (e.g. "12500.50"). | |
| breakdownServed | No | The date the breakdown of costs was served. |