Precedent H Cost Management Setup

There are a number of settings in the Utilities section to ensure the J-codes information is captured for selected matters:

Time Recording

The Time Recording section has two options with settings for J-codes:

Charge Rate Maintenance

Charge Rate Maintenance enables you to create new rates or existing rates as J-code rates.

J-code rates can be set for fee earners as well as legal aid rates.

To set rates as J-code rates:

  1. Open Utilities and select Time Recording.
  2. Select Fee Earner or Legal Aid in the left-hand pane.
  3. In the right-hand pane, right-click on the Charge Description and select Edit.
  4. Select the J-code check box and click OK.

To create a new charge rate or see full details on Charge Rate Maintenance, please see the System Administration user guide.

J-Codes

These are created as standard when you upgrade to version 2.9.0 or beyond. However, they can be amended by selecting the item and right-clicking and selecting Edit from the shortcut menu.

To view the standard J-codes:

  1. Open Utilities and select Time Recording.
  2. Expand the J-codes folder and click on the appropriate code type:

    3. If the names and descriptions are changed, you can edit the codes. In the right-hand pane right-click the code and select Edit.

Core PMS

To enable matters to activate the J-code sections, work types can be flagged as a J-code work type.

Work types

To set a work type for J-code use:

  1. Open Utilities and select Core PMS.
  2. Select the relevant work type.
  3. Select the J-code? check box.
  4. Set the Charge Description, using the lookup, to a J-code option.
  5. The Billing Code Category will automatically be set to MT.
  6. Click OK.

Accounts

Disbursements can be mapped to use default Expense codes.

Disbursements

To map disbursement types to Expense codes:

  1. Open Utilities and select Accounts.
  2. Expand the Disbursements folder and select the External or Internal folder.
  3. Right-click the appropriate disbursement and select Edit.
  4. Select the J-code mapping tab.
  5. Use the arrow buttons to select and move the appropriate expense(s) to the Assigned Expenses column.
  6. Click OK.

Document/Agenda Setup

Document template properties have a J-code section to set default J-codes when a document is merged and saved with a time posting.

Document Templates

To set default J-codes for a document template:

  1. Open Utilities and select Document/Agenda Setup.
  2. Expand the Document Production folder and select Document Templates.
  3. Locate the appropriate document template, right-click and select Edit Document Template Properties.
  4. Set the phase, task, activity and stage as required in the J-codes section.
  5. Click OK.

Note Users are able to amend the default J-codes at the time the merged document is saved.

Billing Codes and Categories

A Billing category and ERROR: Variable (country-SCO-fee-not-billing) is undefined. codes are available for use with the Precedent H Cost Management.

Open Utilities and select Core PMS.

There is a Billing Code Category and 14 billing codes for use with J-codes as listed in the table below.

The first thirteen codes are for use when posting causing the time or disbursement to appear on the Precedent H form. The last, Exempt, is for use with time or disbursements you wish to record, such as Court Fees, but do not want to be shown on the aforementioned form.

Code Description

Billing Code Category
MT Multi-track

Billing Codes
01 Pre-Action Costs Pre-Action Costs
02 Issue/Pleadings Issue/Pleadings
03 CMC CMC
04 Disclosure Disclosure
05 Witness Statements Witness Statements
06 Expert Reports Expert Reports
07 PTR PTR
08 Trial Preparation Trial Preparation
09 Trial Trial
10 ADR/Settlement ADR/Settlement
11 Contingent Cost A Contingent Cost A
12 Contingent Cost B Contingent Cost B
13 Contingent Cost C Contingent Cost C
14 Exempt Exempt

Warning Limits

When using Precedent H Cost Management, there are two points when you will receive a warning, first when you are approaching the set estimate and another when you exceed the stated estimate.

It is the approaching the estimate point value that can be amended. The default setting is 80.00 which is a percentage figure in line with other limit warnings.

This means that if you have an estimate costs figure of £100 you will receive the initial warning when a posting takes the actual costs figure above £80.00. If you set the warning limit to 75.00, then you will receive the warning when the posting takes the total above £75.00.

To set the warning limits for the stages:

  1. Open Utilities and select System Parameters.
  2. Locate the Multi-track Costs Warning or the Multi-track Disbursement Warning as required.
    3. The values in these parameters are in percentages, as with the other warning limits, and default to 80.00  
  3. If you need to amend one or both of these, right-click on the entry and select Edit (or double-click) to amend as required.
  4. Click OK.