Trainee wins own costs

Assistant and trainee solicitors who successfully defend themselves in the criminal courts may have their own costs awarded following a recent case in Manchester.

Before the case - brought by Richard Moss, a trainee solicitor with Manchester firm Rowe & Cohen - precedents only supported costs awards for barristers, sole practitioners and partners acting for themselves.

Mr Moss successfully defended an action brought against him for a minor motoring offence.

He worked on his own defence outside office hours, and after the Crown Prosecution Service discontinued the action, he applied under s.16 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 for a defendant's costs order.

The assistant clerk of the Manchester magistrates' court refused to allow Mr Moss his costs, but he applied for a redetermination of costs under reg 9 of the Costs in Criminal Cases (General) Regulations 1986, and succeeded.

Mr Moss said: 'Solicitors who are prepared to defend themselves in the criminal courts and are later found to be innocent of any crime, will find this decision of considerable benefit.

It allows employed and trainee solicitors, who prima facie incur no expense, to be remunerated for their time.'

Jeremy Fleming