Bill of Costs Drafting

Led by Diellza Nika Hyseni and Mentor Nika · Updated 11 November 2026

Bills of costs for detailed assessment, drawn from your file: paper bills in the PD 47 form, Precedent S electronic bills and bills for costs-only proceedings, for claimant solicitor firms.

DMD Costs is a law costs drafting firm based in Greater Manchester, instructed by claimant solicitor firms across England and Wales.

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Key points

DMD Costs drafts bills of costs for claimant solicitor firms: paper bills in the form PD 47 sets out, Precedent S electronic bills, and bills for detailed assessment and for CPR 46.14 costs-only proceedings.
A bill must be an electronic bill, such as Precedent S, where the case is a Part 7 multi-track claim and the bill covers costs recoverable between the parties for work done after 6 April 2018, unless the costs are fixed or scale costs, the receiving party is unrepresented or the court orders otherwise (PD 47 para 5.1).
Each bill is built from the file: the time records, the fee notes and invoices, and a narrative that explains why the work was needed and why the costs are proportionate.
First drafts are normally returned within five working days of receiving complete papers. Urgent turnaround can be agreed separately before instruction.
Bills are led by Diellza Nika Hyseni, law costs draftsperson and Managing Director, with more than 15 years' experience in legal costs, and Mentor Nika, law costs draftsman and Head of Housing Disrepair Costs, with more than six years' experience in claimant legal costs.
Across our settled files, average recovery is above 70% of the bill as drafted.
The fee is fixed and agreed before any work begins. Unless we agree otherwise in writing, our agreed fee is payable when your firm receives the recovered costs from the paying party.

Bill of Costs Drafting for Claimant Firms

A bill of costs is the receiving party’s itemised claim for its costs at detailed assessment, and everything that follows is measured against it: the Points of Dispute, the offers and the figure the costs settle at. We draft bills of costs for claimant solicitor firms from the file itself: the time records, the fee notes and invoices, and the history of the claim that explains why the work was done.

Mainly instructed by claimant solicitor firms across England and Wales — individuals and litigants in person can contact us too.

We prepare the costs documentation and support your team through the process. The instructing solicitor retains conduct of the matter.

What We Prepare

Paper bills in the form PD 47 sets out: the title page, the background information, the items of costs under their headings, a summary, schedules of time on non-routine attendances and the certificates (PD 47 paras 5.7 and 5.21), following the model forms in Precedents A to D.
Precedent S electronic bills, in which each item of work is allocated to one of the phases, tasks and activities defined in Schedule 2 to PD 47, under its Precedent S code, and the spreadsheet reports and aggregates the totals (PD 47 para 5.A2). Our J-code and Precedent S lookup lists every code.
Bills for detailed assessment, whether the right to costs comes from a judgment or order, a notice of discontinuance or the acceptance of a Part 36 offer (CPR 47.7).
Bills for costs-only proceedings, where the parties agreed everything in writing, including which of them pays the costs, but not the amount, and no proceedings had been started (CPR 46.14(1)).

When Does a Bill Have to Be in Precedent S?

A bill must be an electronic bill where the case is a Part 7 multi-track claim and the bill covers costs recoverable between the parties for work done after 6 April 2018, unless the proceedings are subject to fixed costs or scale costs, the receiving party is unrepresented or the court has ordered otherwise (PD 47 para 5.1). In every other case it can be a paper bill or an electronic bill. An electronic bill is served or filed in hard copy, in the layout of the pdf version of Precedent S, with the full spreadsheet provided at the same time by email or other electronic means (PD 47 para 5.1A). Where it is filed at the Costs Office through Electronic Working, the full spreadsheet and a pdf version are uploaded instead, and it must not be filed by any other means (PD 47 para 5.1B). Our guide to the bill of costs, paper and electronic covers both formats in detail.

What We Need From You

the file, including the correspondence, attendance notes and the documents the work produced;
the time records, as an export from your case management or time-recording system if you have one;
counsel’s fee notes, and the fee notes and invoices for every other disbursement;
the retainer: the client care letter and the conditional fee agreement or other funding agreement;
the judgment, order, Part 36 acceptance or settlement agreement that gives the right to costs; and
where a costs management order was made, the last approved or agreed budget.

Copies of counsel’s and experts’ fee notes, and written evidence of any other disbursement above the figure in PD 47 para 5.2(d), are served with the bill (PD 47 para 5.2), so they are needed before the bill goes out, not after. Where a costs management order was made, the costs are assessed on the standard basis and the budget was agreed or approved, the bill is divided to show the costs claimed for each phase of the last approved or agreed budget, and within each phase the costs shown as incurred in that budget are kept apart from the costs shown as estimated (PD 47 para 5.8(8)). The costs of initially completing Precedent H and the other costs of the budgeting and costs management process go in separate parts (PD 47 para 5.8(9)).

How the Bill Is Built

The narrative. The background information gives a brief description of the proceedings, states the status of each fee earner and the hourly rate claimed, and briefly explains any agreement or arrangement between the client and your firm that affects the costs claimed (PD 47 para 5.11). We write it to explain the claim, not just to list it: what was in issue, what made the claim harder or longer, and what work the paying party’s own conduct added.

Phases, tasks and activities. In an electronic bill every item sits in a phase, task and activity, so the paying party and the court can see what each stage of the claim cost. The coding has to follow the file’s chronology, or the totals stop meaning anything.

Proportionality. On the standard basis the court allows only costs that are proportionate to the matters in issue, and may disallow or reduce disproportionate costs even if they were reasonably or necessarily incurred (CPR 44.3(2)(a)). Costs are proportionate if they bear a reasonable relationship to the sums in issue, the value of any non-monetary relief, the complexity of the litigation, any additional work generated by the paying party’s conduct, any wider factors such as reputation or public importance, and any additional work or expense due to the vulnerability of a party or witness (CPR 44.3(5)). The bill is drafted to show those factors wherever the file supports them.

Turnaround

First drafts are normally returned within five working days of receiving complete papers. Urgent turnaround can be agreed separately before instruction.

What Happens After the Bill Is Served

Detailed assessment proceedings are commenced by serving the notice of commencement in Form N252 with the bill (CPR 47.6), normally within 3 months of the judgment, order or other event that gave the right to costs (CPR 47.7). Our free N252 notice of commencement builder fills in the form. From service:

the paying party has 21 days to serve Points of Dispute (CPR 47.9(2)); if none are served in time, the receiving party may request a default costs certificate (CPR 47.9(4) and 47.11);
the receiving party may serve a Reply within 21 days after being served with them (CPR 47.13(2)): see how we answer Points of Dispute;
the costs are negotiated, starting from the open letter that comes with the Points of Dispute, in which the paying party must state what sum, if any, it offers (PD 47 para 8.3): see our costs negotiation service; and
if the costs do not settle, the receiving party must request a detailed assessment hearing within 3 months of the expiry of the period for commencing the proceedings (CPR 47.14(1)).

Every step, with its deadline, is set out in our guide to detailed assessment of costs, step by step.

Who Drafts Your Bill

Diellza Nika Hyseni, law costs draftsperson and Managing Director, with more than 15 years’ experience in legal costs, leads clinical negligence bills and gives senior oversight of bills and electronic bills across the practice. Mentor Nika, law costs draftsman and Head of Housing Disrepair Costs, with more than six years’ experience in claimant legal costs, leads housing disrepair and MoD NIHL bills. Rheanna Parkinson, costs draftsperson, mainly drafts bills of costs in MoD NIHL claims.

We do not publish case results we have not produced. Across our settled files, average recovery is above 70% of the bill as drafted. Beyond that, what we offer as evidence is named responsibility for the work and published guidance you can check against the rules yourself.

Fixed Fee Agreed Before Instructions

The fee is fixed and agreed before any work begins. Unless we agree otherwise in writing, our agreed fee is payable when your firm receives the recovered costs from the paying party.

Frequently asked questions

When the case is a Part 7 multi-track claim and the bill covers costs recoverable between the parties for work done after 6 April 2018, unless the proceedings are subject to fixed costs or scale costs, the receiving party is unrepresented or the court has ordered otherwise (PD 47 para 5.1). In every other case the bill may be a paper bill or an electronic bill. Precedent S is the model electronic bill annexed to PD 47 (para 5.A1); another spreadsheet format can be used if it meets the requirements of para 5.A2.

Yes. An export from your case management or time-recording system is the usual starting point, sent with the file through our client portal. The export is not the bill: each entry is checked against the file and, in an electronic bill, allocated to its phase, task and activity under Schedule 2 to PD 47. If something important is missing or unclear, we go back to the instructing solicitor rather than filling in the gaps ourselves.

Costs firms charge in different ways: some take a percentage of the costs recovered, some charge by the hour and some quote a fixed fee. Ours is fixed. The fee is fixed and agreed before any work begins. It depends on the size of the file, how complete the papers are and whether the work runs on through Points of Dispute, Replies and negotiation, so we quote after seeing the papers.

First drafts are normally returned within five working days of receiving complete papers. Urgent turnaround can be agreed separately before instruction.

The practitioner named on your file. Diellza Nika Hyseni, law costs draftsperson and Managing Director, with more than 15 years' experience in legal costs, leads clinical negligence bills and gives senior oversight of bills and electronic bills. Mentor Nika, law costs draftsman and Head of Housing Disrepair Costs, with more than six years' experience in claimant legal costs, leads housing disrepair and MoD NIHL bills. Rheanna Parkinson, costs draftsperson, mainly drafts bills of costs in MoD NIHL claims.

Yes, with the bill. Detailed assessment proceedings are commenced by serving the notice of commencement in Form N252 with the bill (CPR 47.6; PD 47 para 5.2). Serving them is a step in the proceedings taken in your firm's name, and the instructing solicitor keeps conduct of the matter.

Unless we agree otherwise in writing, our agreed fee is payable when your firm receives the recovered costs from the paying party.

A bill to draw?

Send us the file and the time records. We review the papers, confirm the fixed fee before work begins and return the first draft for your firm to check.

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