Drafting adjustment of pleadings

Court of Session – Junior counsel

Chapter 6, paragraph 3    

Adjustment of pleadings

1. adjustment of skeleton defences or
2. otherwise (each occasion)

In relation to Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 the fees prescribed in Chapter 6 apply.

These standard fees cannot be increased or decreased where we are satisfied that a fee is payable.  

Sheriff court, First-Tier Tribunal for Scotland, Sheriff Appeal Court and Upper Tribunal for Scotland – Junior counsel

Paragraph 3

Adjustment of pleadings

Adjustment fee (each occasion)

These standard fees cannot be increased or decreased where we are satisfied that a fee is payable.

Court of Session – Senior counsel

Paragraph 1(c)

Drafting of pleadings       

adjustment fee (open record) (each occasion)     

This standard fee cannot be increased or decreased where we are satisfied that a fee is payable.

Adjustment of skeleton defences in the Court of Session

The fee for the initiating court document is higher than the equivalent defences’ fee.

This reflects that the onus will, in the first instance, lie with the party bringing the action to plead their case.

That will ordinarily be a more onerous task than the responsibility faced by the defender responding to those pleadings.

The fee under paragraph 2(a) plus the fee allowable under paragraph 3(a) is the equivalent fee for full defences having been drafted in paragraph 2(b).

That reflects the purpose behind the Table of Fees and the Faculty of Advocates’ intention as to how those fees should be applied.

The higher prescribed fee under paragraph 3(a) for ‘adjustment of skeleton defences’ is only payable where defences have previously been lodged in purely skeleton form (and a corresponding fee has been charged by counsel in terms of paragraph 2(a)) to preserve the rights of parties.

Where paragraph 3(a) is not payable, and that will be the vast majority of cases, after the initiating documents have been warranted/lodged the only fee that can be allowed for adjustment is the prescribed fee under paragraph 3(b) “otherwise (each occasion)”.  The reference to “otherwise” has to be read in the context of what is provided for in paragraph 3(a).

Multiple Adjustments

An adjustment fee becomes payable where we are satisfied that the adjustments have been lodged/marked up in process and until that point our view is that they are only a work in progress which you may, where necessary, further revise.

Where multiple adjustment charges are made in close proximity to one another we must be satisfied that each charge is reasonable.

In the absence of any information in support of why multiple charges have been made, and why one complete set of adjustments could not have reasonably been made, we will reduce multiple charges and invite you to provide further information in support of the claim.

Multiple respondents

In a case involving multiple respondents each party will ordinarily be required to lodge answers.  Where you are required to consider each parties’ set of answers, in order to adjust it we may, on cause shown, allow more than one fee where multiple adjustments are made.