build_calderbank_offer
ClaudeDrafts a written offer to settle a CLAIM marked "without prejudice save as to costs" (a Calderbank offer), in England and Wales, in the user's own terms: civil claims (issued or not), small claims, family proceedings outside FPR 28.3 (Schedule 1 claims, most interim applications other than interim variation) and employment tribunals; from a firm for its client or from the party itself; to the other side's solicitors or the other party. The costs term follows the offer's scope and pays Part 45 fixed costs where Part 45 fixes them (CPR 45.1(3)); a timed offer says a rejection or counter-offer will not end it, and a deadline on a weekend or bank holiday moves to the next working day; tribunal offers say the settlement will be recorded in a COT3 or settlement agreement (ERA 1996 s.203). Returns the letter text, the checks, the date the offer is open until, and what the court or tribunal can do with it: in civil claims the court has regard to an admissible offer that is not a Part 36 offer when deciding costs (CPR 44.2(4)(c)), nothing is automatic (CPR 36.2(2)) and Part 36's "by any amount, however small" test is not read into Part 44 (Coward v Phaestos Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 1256); Part 36 does not apply once a claim is allocated to the small claims track (CPR 27.2(1)(g)); in employment tribunals rejection must be unreasonable (Sud v Ealing LBC [2013] EWCA Civ 949). It refuses financial remedy proceedings, including variation and interim variation (FPR 28.3(8)), and never drafts offers on costs (bills, detailed assessment), never puts a figure on costs and never suggests what to offer.
calculate_civil_court_fees
ClaudeWorks out the main civil court fees in England and Wales, with fee numbers: the issue fee for money, non-money (such as repairs), possession, goods, costs-only (CPR 46.14) and Solicitors Act claims; hearing fees by track; applications; appeals; detailed assessment by the size of the bill; default costs certificates; enforcement; and creditors' winding-up and bankruptcy petitions, where the official receiver's deposit is shown separately because it is not a court fee. Help with fees is not taken into account.
calculate_court_of_protection_fixed_costs
ClaudeWorks out the fixed costs a professional or public authority deputy may take from P's estate under Court of Protection Practice Direction 19B (the 2024 version, and the December 2017 version for periods ending before 1 April 2024), fee by fee: the deputy application, the annual management fees for property and affairs (the net-assets percentage below £20,300) and health and welfare, reports to the OPG, tax returns, trustee and PD 9D applications, property management, conveyancing and travel, with part years and VAT. Where the deputy takes detailed assessment instead, it gives the SCCO fee, the 75% cap on payments on account and the time limit, never an estimate of what an assessment would allow. Every figure is a maximum. DMD Costs does not act in Court of Protection matters.
calculate_cpr_deadline
ClaudeWorks out a deadline under the Civil Procedure Rules in England and Wales from a date: clear days (CPR 2.8(2) and (3)), the 5-day rule (CPR 2.8(4)), calendar months (CPR 2.10), court office closures (CPR 2.8(5) and PD 2A) and the latest days to email or post a document for deemed service (CPR 6.26). Name a common time limit as a preset (for example the defence, the acknowledgment of service, the appellant's notice or Points of Dispute), or give your own period, plus the date it runs from.
calculate_deemed_service
ClaudeWorks out when a claim form and particulars of claim are deemed served in England and Wales, and every date that follows: acknowledgment of service, the defence, agreed extensions and the earliest default judgment, with bank holidays and court closures. Also covers the Damages Claims Portal (PD 51ZB). Give the issue date, how and when the claim form was served, and how the particulars were served.
calculate_detailed_assessment_deadlines
ClaudeWorks out the CPR Part 47 detailed assessment timetable in England and Wales from the dates you have: the last day to serve the notice of commencement (N252), Points of Dispute, the first day for a default costs certificate (N254), Replies, the request for an assessment hearing (N258), provisional assessment steps and payment. Allows for deemed service, weekends, bank holidays and court office closures. Give at least the right to costs (its kind and date).
calculate_employment_tribunal_costs
ClaudeWorks out employment tribunal costs figures in England, Wales and Scotland under the Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024: preparation time at the rule 77 hourly rate for the year the time was spent (£44 from 6 April 2024, up £1 each 6 April), final hearing time left out; a costs order with the £20,000 limit on a specified sum (rule 76), lay representatives' rates, witness expenses and deposits; the choice between a costs order and preparation time (rule 73(3)); wasted costs against a representative (rules 78 to 80); the 28-day deadline to apply (rules 75 and 5); and litigant in person costs in the Employment Appeal Tribunal (rule 34D, with the two-thirds cap). It applies the rates and caps to your figures and never estimates what a tribunal would allow. DMD Costs does not act in employment tribunals.
calculate_employment_tribunal_time_limit
ClaudeWorks out the last day to present an employment tribunal claim in England and Wales: 3 months less one day, or 6 months less one day where the relevant date is on or after 1 October 2026 (Employment Rights Act 2025 s.152 and Sch 12; S.I. 2026/954 reg 4; breach of contract by S.I. 2026/759), for unfair dismissal, discrimination, unlawful deductions, holiday pay, whistleblowing detriment, breach of contract, redundancy pay and equal pay, with Acas early conciliation (the clock-stop and the one-month rule) applied. Weekends and bank holidays do not move the date. It explains how a late claim can still be heard (not reasonably practicable, or just and equitable) but never predicts it, and never advises whether to claim.
calculate_fast_track_timetable
ClaudeWorks out the standard timetable after allocation to the fast track or the intermediate track in England and Wales: the PD 28 para 9.5 typical periods from the notice of allocation (disclosure, witness statements, experts' reports, pre-trial checklists, trial within 30 weeks), the time to apply to set aside or vary the order, agreed directions before a case management conference, the pre-trial checklist (N170), notice of trial, the trial fee (fee 2.1), the trial bundle (CPR 39.5), skeleton arguments, Precedent U or the N260 statement of costs, written questions to experts, and the Damages Claims Portal and noise-induced hearing loss variants. Each date says whether it is a typical period, a rule, the standard order or your own order, and which rest on our reading. The court's own order governs every date.
calculate_financial_remedy_timetable
ClaudeWorks out the financial remedy timetable in the family court in England and Wales (FPR 2010 Part 9; standard, fast-track and the Express pilot under PD 36ZH): the first appointment 12 to 16 weeks after issue, Form E 5 weeks before it, the documents 14 days before, the FDR and its offers, open proposals (FPR 9.27A, 9.28), Form H at every hearing and Form H1 before the final hearing (9.27), FM5, ES1 and ES2 and the bundle (PD 27A; Financial Remedies Guide 2026). Dates only: it never advises on the merits, the division or costs.
calculate_fixed_costs
ClaudeWorks out the fixed costs CPR 45 Section II allows a legal representative in England and Wales, line by line with the PD 45 table for each sum: fixed commencement costs on a money or goods claim (Table 2), judgment in default, on admission, summary judgment and Consumer Credit Act goods judgments (Table 3), possession and demotion claims (Tables 4 and 5), accelerated possession, extra service (Table 6) and enforcement (Table 7: charging orders, third party debt orders, writs, warrants, questioning, attachment of earnings). Online civil money claims follow PD 51R. No VAT and no London weighting; court fees are on top; the court can order otherwise. It never works out fixed recoverable costs (Part 45 Sections IV to X).
calculate_interest_on_costs
ClaudeWorks out simple interest at 8% a year on an order for costs in England and Wales: from the date of the order (or acceptance of a Part 36 offer, or the date the court set) to the date you choose, allowing for payments on account, the County Court £5,000 rule and its exceptions, and leap years. It does not decide rates where the court has a discretion.
calculate_interest_on_damages
ClaudeWorks out interest on damages before judgment in England and Wales (Senior Courts Act 1981 s.35A; County Courts Act 1984 s.69), head by head: general damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity at 2% a year from service of the claim form; past losses running to the end date at half the Court Funds Office special account rate from when they began; a loss on one date (a large expense, a bereavement award, funeral costs) at the full rate; a loss that stopped before the end date by one of three methods; and a debt at 8%, another rate or Bank Rate plus a margin, with wording for the particulars of claim (CPR 16.4(2)). Uses every special account rate since 1 February 1993, credits interest on interim payments against the past losses, and gives the daily rate. No interest on future losses. With mode "latePayment" it works out statutory interest on business debts under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 instead: 8% over Bank Rate on the 30 June or 31 December before interest starts, from the day after the agreed or default payment date (s.4), and the £40, £70 or £100 fixed sum for each debt (s.5A).
calculate_judgment_interest
ClaudeWorks out simple interest at 8% a year on a judgment debt in England and Wales, from the date of judgment (or a date the court ordered, or in the County Court a date for payment in the judgment) to the date you choose. High Court: any judgment (Judgments Act 1838 s.17); no rule fixes how part payments are applied, so the default is interest first, a rule of thumb the Court of Appeal accepted as fair, with the debt-first total alongside. County Court: only judgments of £5,000 or more or for a Late Payment Act qualifying debt, with the exceptions in the County Courts (Interest on Judgment Debts) Order 1991: consumer credit and suspended possession orders carry none, payments go to the debt first, County Court enforcement that produced a payment stops it, and an attachment of earnings or administration order suspends it while in force. Flags interest more than six years old (Limitation Act 1980 s.24(2)). Leap years per Lomas v Burlington. Not for interest on costs (use calculate_interest_on_costs) or interest before judgment.
calculate_judicial_review_time_limits
ClaudeWorks out the time limits for a claim for judicial review in England and Wales: promptly and in any event within 3 months of the grounds arising (CPR 54.5(1)), 6 weeks for decisions under the planning Acts (54.5(5)), 30 days beginning with the day of knowledge in procurement (54.5(6); Procurement Act 2023 s.106), with the pre-action protocol letter and reply, service of the claim form (54.7), the acknowledgment of service (54.8), the reply (54.8A), renewal after refusal on the papers (54.12), detailed grounds (54.14), the fees and the Aarhus Convention costs caps (CPR 46.24 to 46.28). Time cannot be extended by agreement. It never advises whether to claim.
calculate_limitation_period
ClaudeWorks out the last day to bring a civil claim in England and Wales under the Limitation Act 1980, strictly: personal injury, clinical negligence and industrial disease (s.11, with children and capacity under s.28, death under s.11(5) and s.12, child sexual abuse under s.11ZA, armed forces), housing disrepair (a continuing breach: the 6-year look-back from the issue date), contract, tort and latent damage with the 15-year longstop, deeds, the Defective Premises Act, contribution, defamation, defective products and judgments. It never infers a date of knowledge: give it. Where the law is unsettled it gives the earlier (safe) date first, never moves a last day off a weekend or bank holiday, and treats s.33 as a discretion, never a date.
calculate_litigant_in_person_costs
ClaudeWorks out the costs a self-represented party can claim in the civil courts of England and Wales under CPR 46.5: £24 an hour for time spent on or after 1 October 2025 and £19 an hour before (PD 46 para 3.4), or proven financial loss; payments for legal services and expert help with the costs claim; disbursements; the two-thirds cap on everything except disbursements, checked only against your own figure for what a lawyer would have been allowed; the small claims track limits (CPR 27.14(2)); fixed recoverable costs (CPR 45.4); and who counts as a litigant in person. It never estimates what a lawyer would have been allowed, and the court decides the time reasonably spent.
calculate_part_35_and_part_18_dates
ClaudeWorks out the dates for written questions to an expert (CPR 35.6: within 28 days of service of the report, deemed service under CPR 6.26, once only and for clarification unless the court permits or the other party agrees; before proceedings, the pre-action protocol that applies, of which only the Personal Injury Protocol fixes 28 days) and for a Part 18 request for further information (PD 18: the date for the response, and what can be done if none comes, including the application and its fee). On the small claims track CPR 27.2 disapplies both, and it says so. The page also builds a Word template; this tool gives the dates only and never drafts questions.
calculate_part_36_offer
ClaudeWorks out a Part 36 offer in England and Wales: when it was made (deemed service, CPR 6.26 and 36.7) and when its relevant period ends; whether an acceptance was in time (CPR 36.13); whether the judgment, or the detailed assessment, beat the offer (CPR 36.17(1)); and the consequences in money: the additional amount, enhanced interest of up to 10% above base rate, indemnity costs and interest on them, the 35% uplift in fixed costs claims (CPR 36.24), or the defendant's costs. Uses the Bank of England's base rate history. Give at least who made the offer, the amount and the date it was sent; add the outcome to see the consequences.
calculate_pi_portal_timescales
ClaudeWorks out the timescales in the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents, the EL/PL protocol and the RTA Small Claims (OIC) protocol, in business days: the CNF response (15 or 30 business days RTA, 30 employers' liability, 40 public liability; RTA small claims 30 or 40), interim payments, the Stage 2 consideration and negotiation periods and their extensions, settlement and non-settlement payments, the Court Proceedings Pack, the exit points and Stage 3 under PD 49F. Dates beyond the bank-holiday data are never given as firm. It never advises on liability, value or settlement.
calculate_pre_action_protocol_deadlines
ClaudeWorks out the dates the main pre-action protocols in England and Wales set after a letter of claim, counted the way each protocol words them, with the paragraph for each: housing conditions (20 working days from receipt, deemed 2 days after the letter's date; inspection; expert's report), clinical disputes (14 days from receipt; Letter of Response 4 months from the letter of claim, and from receipt), personal injury (21 calendar days from posting; 3 months from the acknowledgment), disease and illness including hearing loss (21 days from posting; 90 days from the acknowledgment), professional negligence, construction and engineering, debt claims, and the Practice Direction where no protocol applies. Flags dates that fall on a weekend or bank holiday (protocol periods do not roll forward).
calculate_statutory_demand_deadlines
ClaudeWorks out the statutory demand and petition timetable in England and Wales: on a company (Insolvency Act 1986 s.123(1)(a): 3 weeks to pay, secure or compound, then a winding-up petition) or on an individual (s.268: 18 days to apply to set the demand aside under IR 2016 r.10.4, 21 days to comply, then a bankruptcy petition for at least £5,000), with personal service and CPR 6.26, a set-aside application stopping the clock, the four-month rule, service of the petition (CPR 6.14), the Gazette notice, the certificate of compliance, notices of opposition and of intention to appear, and the court fee and official receiver's deposit. For a company, business days leave out Scotland's bank holidays too (s.251). Demands served abroad are not covered. Says where a date rests on a reading.
check_appeal_route_and_deadline
ClaudeFor a decision in an ordinary civil claim in England and Wales, or in detailed assessment proceedings, works out which court hears an appeal (Destination of Appeals Order 2016; PD 52A Table 1), whether permission is needed and from whom, the last day for the appellant's notice (21 days under CPR 52.12(2)(b), or the period the lower court set, with court office closures), the form (N161, or N164 for small claims), the court fee, the respondent's notice (N162), transcript and appeal bundle dates, and the next steps; and flags a notice already late against today's date. Covers appeals from authorised court officers (CPR 47.21 to 47.24) and the London costs route in PD 47 para 4.2. Family, insolvency, contempt and statutory appeals are outside it. It never advises whether to appeal or rates an appeal's prospects.
check_awaabs_law_timescales
ClaudeChecks a social landlord's Awaab's Law timescales in England (section 10A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and the Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025, S.I. 2025/1042, in force from 27 October 2025 for damp and mould and for emergency hazards): the investigation, the written summary, the safety work, alternative accommodation and supplementary preventative work, each with its deadline and whether it was met, counting working days or 24-hour periods. It does not decide whether a hazard is significant or an emergency: that is a question of fact. Give the hazard, the timescale (track) and the date the landlord became aware; add later dates to check each step.
check_cpr_21_10_approval
ClaudeChecks when a settlement, interim payment or payment in by or for a child or protected party needs the court's approval in England and Wales (CPR 21.10; PD 21 was revoked in 2023), the route (a Part 8 claim before issue, or an application in the proceedings), the documents for the approval hearing, the court fee, investment of the money (CPR 21.11, the Court Funds Office forms and the Court of Protection for £100,000 or more) and the rules on deductions from damages (CPR 21.12, 46.4). It never values the claim or works out a costs or deduction figure.
check_enforcement_options
ClaudeSets out the main ways to enforce a money judgment, costs order or costs certificate in England and Wales side by side: warrant of control, transfer up and writ of control, attachment of earnings, charging order, order for sale, third party debt order and order to obtain information. For each it says whether the rules allow it now (the £600 and £5,000 limits in the High Court and County Courts Jurisdiction Order 1991 art 8, Consumer Credit Act debts, missed instalments, AEA 1971 s.3(3), permission after six years under CPR 83.2), the court, the form, the court fee, the PD 45 Table 7 fixed costs, enforcement agents' and High Court enforcement officers' fees under the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014 as amended from 1 May 2026, and the effect on judgment interest, which it works out where it can. It never says which option to use.
check_relief_from_sanctions
ClaudeWorks out which test applies when a deadline in a civil claim in England and Wales has been missed or is about to be, then lays out the questions the court asks, each with what the rule or the case says and your own answers: relief from sanctions under CPR 3.8 and 3.9 and the three Denton stages (late witness statements, budgets, experts' reports, disclosure, points of dispute, unless orders, late appeal notices); an extension applied for in time (Hallam Estates) or under CPR 3.1(2)(a); agreed extensions (CPR 2.11, 3.8(4), 15.5); the claim form (CPR 7.6); and setting aside a default judgment (CPR 13.2 and 13.3) or a default costs certificate (CPR 47.12). Says what to file, the N244 preset and the court fee. It never predicts the outcome or scores the answers: relief, extensions and setting aside are for the court.
check_security_for_costs
ClaudeChecks which conditions for security for costs in the civil courts of England and Wales (CPR Part 25 Section VI, as rewritten from 6 April 2025) appear to be met on your answers, with the rule's words: a claimant resident out of the jurisdiction (with the enforcement position by country, including the 2019 Hague Judgments Convention), a company with reason to believe it will be unable to pay (and after-the-event insurance), a change of address to evade, no or an incorrect address, a nominal claimant, steps taken with assets, funders and assignors (r.25.28), appeals (r.25.29), counterclaims, Solicitors Act and detailed assessments, arbitration challenges (s.70(6)) and foreign judgment registrations (CPR 74.5); then the discretion factors and the procedure. It never decides the application and never suggests an amount of security: that is for the court.
check_small_claims_costs
ClaudeChecks whether a claim in England and Wales normally goes to the small claims track (CPR 26.9 to 26.12: £10,000; personal injury limits for pain, suffering and loss of amenity; housing disrepair with an order for repairs; never harassment or unlawful eviction) and adds up what CPR 27.14(2) allows on your figures: the Table 2 fixed issue costs, court fees paid, reasonable travel, lost earnings up to £95 a day for each person, experts up to £750 each, up to £260 for advice on an injunction or specific performance claim, and an appeal transcript. Optionally it also covers the small claims mediation pilot (PD 51ZE: claims issued from 22 May 2024 to 6 April 2027) and the costs of refusing ADR (Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil; CPR 44.2(5)(e)), and a small claims appeal: the route, permission, the N164 and its 21-day deadline, and the fee. Allocation is the court's decision, and further costs for unreasonable behaviour are for the court: never estimated.
check_solicitors_act_assessment
ClaudeWorks out whether a solicitor's bill can still be assessed under section 70 of the Solicitors Act 1974 (England and Wales), for the client, the firm, a third party who paid it (s.71(1)) or a beneficiary of an estate or trust that paid, or is entitled to pay, it (s.71(3)), from the dates of delivery, payment, judgment and the application: assessment as of right within one month of delivery (s.70(1)), the court's discretion up to 12 months (s.70(2)), special circumstances after 12 months, after judgment or after payment (s.70(3)), and no power more than 12 months after payment (s.70(4)). An emailed bill counts as delivered on the first working day after it was sent (s.69(2F)). Fees taken from money held for the client count as payment only where the client agreed the amount (Oakwood Solicitors Ltd v Menzies [2024] UKSC 34); a part payment is not payment of the bill (Rippon Patel and French LLP v Mowlam [2020] EWHC 1079 (QB)), and an unclear deduction, or a deadline that ended on a day the court office was closed with the claim issued on the next open day (Pritam Kaur), gives both answers. Optionally the one-fifth rule for the costs of the assessment (s.70(9) and (12); Karatysz v SGI Legal LLP [2022] EWCA Civ 1388) and the CPR 46.10 timetable from the order. It never says whether special circumstances exist and never estimates what an assessment would allow.
check_vat_on_costs
ClaudeWorks out whether a receiving party in England and Wales can include VAT in its claim for costs against the paying party, and how much: VAT is not claimed if the receiving party can recover it as input tax, and only the irrecoverable proportion where it recovers part (PD 44 para 2.3); input tax means VAT on services for its business, and only the business share where the services were used partly for it (VAT Act 1994 s.24(1) and (5); HMRC VIT13600); a VAT group recovers for its members (s.43); and the paying party cannot reclaim VAT on the other side's costs (VATSC11531). Covers public bodies that get VAT refunded under s.33 or s.41(3) (in our reading they should not claim it: PD 44 para 2.4), a party's own employed lawyers (no VAT on their work: HMRC VATSC11533; PD 44 para 2.13 for Government Departments), lawyers who charged no UK VAT, litigants in person (no VAT on their own time, para 2.12), pro bono orders under s.194(3) LSA 2007 (2.14), court fees and other disbursements (2.11), fixed costs net of VAT under CPR 45.2 as amended from 1 October 2024, the Part 45 Section II sums (no VAT added: r.45.16), IPEC scale costs (CPR 46.21(6)) and insurer-funded or subrogated claims (the insured's position counts: VIT13500). With figures net of VAT, returns the VAT claimable on each item at 20% and in total, and the Precedent F(6) certificate where VAT is disputed (PD 44 para 2.5). It never drafts or values a bill.
explain_costs_order
ClaudeExplains what a costs order in England and Wales means, from the words of the order or the wording picked from a list: costs in any event, costs in the case or in the application, costs reserved, claimant's or defendant's costs in the case, costs thrown away, of and caused by, here and below, no order as to costs, summary and detailed assessment, payment on account, indemnity or standard basis, an order silent on costs, deemed orders (Part 36 acceptance, discontinuance, strike-out for an unpaid fee), wasted costs and non-party costs. Says who recovers the costs under each way the case can end, whether anything is payable now and how the amount is decided, with the rule, and how family proceedings and employment tribunals differ. It explains: it never puts a figure on costs.
find_court_fee_by_form
ClaudeFinds the civil court fee in England and Wales for a court form or a step, by form number or in words (for example "N244", "N245", "warrant of control", "set aside a CCJ", "Tomlin order", "charging order"): each fee with its fee number in Schedule 1 to the Civil Proceedings Fees Order 2008, when it is paid, notes with their source, and our reading, labelled as such, where neither the Order nor the EX50 ties the fee to the form. Forms with no court fee say so. Fees in force from 13 July 2026. Help with fees is not taken into account. For the fees across a whole claim, use calculate_civil_court_fees. In the structured data, amounts are in pence; the text gives pounds.
find_detailed_assessment_court
ClaudeSays which court office deals with a detailed assessment in England and Wales, from the court named on the case: the local County Court hearing centre or district registry, or the Senior Courts Costs Office (SCCO). Handles the London rule in PD 47 para 4.2, where the request for an assessment hearing (N258) goes to the SCCO on CE-File but the default costs certificate (N254) stays at the local hearing centre.
get_statement_of_truth_wording
ClaudeGives the exact wording of a statement of truth in England and Wales for the document and the person signing, copied word for word from its source and cited to the paragraph: statements of case and application notices (PD 22 para 2.1, naming the party where a legal representative, company officer or litigation friend's representative signs, or in a separate document under para 2.5), witness statements (PD 32 para 20.2, with the PD 57AC confirmation and certificate in the Business and Property Courts), expert reports (PD 35 para 3.3), certificates of service (Form N215), certificates of suitability (CPR 21.5(4), an adaptation, labelled so), signers unable to read (PD 22 para 2.4), costs budgets (PD 22 para 2.3), and family statements of case and witness statements (PD 17A). Says where a document takes a certificate, not a statement of truth (disclosure statements, the PD 57AD Disclosure Certificate, the Precedent F bill certificates, the N260 certificate), and gives that wording, with points to check on signing, each citing its rule.
look_up_cpr_costs_rule
ClaudeLooks up the costs rules of the Civil Procedure Rules in England and Wales, rule by rule, by number or by words: Parts 44 to 47 (general rules, fixed costs, special cases, detailed assessment), the costs rules of Part 36, costs budgeting and capping in Part 3 and security for costs in Part 25. Each rule comes back with its official heading, Part and Section, a plain-English summary, a practice note, its old number where it was renumbered (2023 and 2025), when it was omitted if it has been, a link to its text on legislation.gov.uk and the free DMD tool for it, if any. A word search works like the page's search box (every word must appear) and returns up to 5 rules. Reference only: it explains the rules and never assesses anyone's costs.
look_up_j_codes
ClaudeFinds the code for a piece of work in an electronic bill of costs (Precedent S, PD 47 Schedule 2) by code or by the work done: phases P1 to P15, tasks T1 to T41, activities A1 to A10, expenses X1 to X15 and the matching J-codes, with each task's Precedent H budget phase.
search_costs_guides
ClaudeSearches the guides and case notes DMD Costs has published on legal costs in England and Wales: detailed assessment, Part 36 offers, fixed costs, payments on account, housing disrepair, clinical negligence and MoD noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) costs, and recent costs judgments. Returns the closest articles, best first, each with its summary, key points, the dates it was published and last reviewed, and its link. Use it for background reading or the case law on a costs point, and cite the article's link; for a short answer to a costs question, a glossary term or a court form, use search_legal_costs_help.
search_legal_costs_help
ClaudeAnswers costs questions from solicitors in England and Wales, on either side of a claim: budgets, Part 36, settlement, detailed assessment, interest and getting paid. Searches about 30 short answers, each citing its CPR rule, practice direction or statute, a glossary of legal costs terms, and a guide to the court forms and costs precedents (N252, N254, N258, N260, Precedents A to U, and the forms for trial, enforcement and appeals such as N170, N265, N293A, N349, N379 and N161), with the official version of each form and the free tool that fills it in. Use it for 'what is', 'when must', 'who pays', 'how do we' and 'which form' questions about civil costs in England and Wales.
