Co-accused in criminal law matters
Payment rules - summary matters
Effective from 16 December 2013, the payment rules associated with co-accused are no longer applied to summary matters. If a practitioner represents more than one co-accused in a summary matter they are entitled to claim the fixed fee for each client.
Payment rules - non-summary matters
The payment rules listed below are only in effect for any grants of aid issued prior to 4 December 2017. Any grants of aid issued after 4 December 2017 are subject to the new conflict of interest policy - grants of aid for criminal law co-accused.
Where a firm or counsel acts for more than one accused at committal or in the higher courts:
- one full preparation fee is paid plus 50% of the preparation fee for each additional co-accused
- one full court time fee is paid plus 50% of the court time fee for each additional co-accused
- a full group conference fee is payable for each co-accused
- a full negotiation fee is payable for each co-accused
- Only one mention fee is payable regardless of the number of co-accused.
Audit requirements
Practitioners are required to inform the assessing officer that they are acting for more than one accused when aid is sought.
Last updated 4 December 2017