Joint Costs Advisory Committee—2025 Consultation
Submission Date: 28 August 2025
The Law Council of Australia responded to the Joint Costs Advisory Committee’s (JCAC’s) 2025 consultation on the quantum of costs allowable to legal practitioners pursuant to the scales of costs in the rules of each of the federal courts.
The Law Council is grateful for the assistance of the Law Society of New South Wales, the Queensland Law Society, the New South Wales Bar Association, the Law Institute of Victoria in preparing this submission. The Law Council also gratefully acknowledges the assistance of its Family Law Section and Federal Dispute Resolution Section.
Federal Costs Advisory Committee formula minimum adjustment
The Law Council is aware that, under the JCAC’s Terms of Reference, in reviewing the quantum of costs contained in the rules of the courts, the JCAC is required to consider, inter alia, the Federal Costs Advisory Committee (FCAC) formula ‘as an indicative mechanism, to be adjusted according to available data (including but not exclusive to statistics provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics)’.1 However, the JCAC is not limited to the FCAC formula in its determination.
The Law Council submits that the JCAC should recommend an increase in the scales of costs at least in accordance with the FCAC formula. Based on currently available data for the June 2025 quarter, the Law Council suggests that the JCAC should recommend an increase of at least 2.9 per cent.2
1 As extracted in Joint Costs Advisory Committee, Seventeenth Report on Legal Practitioners’ Costs (September 2024) 1.
2 See Australian Bureau of Statistics, Wage Price Index, Australia, June Quarter 2025 (13 August 2025); Australian Bureau of Statistics, Consumer Price Index, Australia, June Quarter 2025 (30 June 2025).
Last Updated on 28/11/2025
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