Joint Costs Advisory Committee—2026 Consultation
Submission Date: 14 August 2026
The Law Council of Australia provided a submission to respond to the Joint Costs Advisory Committee’s (JCAC’s) 2026 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.1
The Law Council thanks its Federal Dispute Resolution Section, Family Law Section, the Queensland Law Society, the New South Wales Law Society, the Victorian Bar and the ACT Law Society for their contributions to this submission.
The JCAC’s 2026 consultation provides an important opportunity to ensure that parties awarded costs are, as far as possible, not left materially out of pocket following the resolution of proceedings in the federal courts.
The Law Council maintains its longstanding concern that the scales of costs across the federal courts have failed to keep pace with the actual costs incurred by parties, and do not adequately reflect the value of the intellectual work undertaken by lawyers, current charging practices, current market conditions, or changes in the technology used by practitioners. Scales of costs that accurately reflect the actual costs of legal work help to ensure access to justice for all litigants.
Outdated and irrelevant approaches to costs recovery within the scales create a negative sentiment towards the administration of justice in the federal courts, especially if parties succeed but recover only a fraction of the costs they have incurred in properly vindicating their rights before the courts.
1 For the purposes of this submission, the term “the federal courts” is used to refer to each of the High Court of Australia, Federal Court of Australia, Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 1) and Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 2).
Last Updated on 18/08/2026
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