ABSTRACT
Legal costs are incurred from the time a client first consults an attorney until the latter’s retainer is terminated, which may be after any judgment obtained has been enforced. The client bears the primary responsibility for settling his own attorney’s bill, which will include (a) attorney’s remuneration for the work done in the matter (‘profit costs’), (b) any experts’ fees, (c) court fees, and (d) any other charges, expenses or disbursements. Attorneys’ costs may be either contentious or non-contentious. Contentious costs occur in cases where proceedings have commenced before a court, whereas non-contentious costs relate to preliminary work undertaken prior to proceedings. This chapter is concerned principally with contentious costs.
