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