Officer - Legal Cost - Cape Town at Road Accident Fund

Key Performance Areas

Perform Assessment of Bills.

• Screening and checking compliance with RAF Act, Rules of Court, SLA and Applicable RAF Tariffs.
• Evaluation of bills of cost that are settled and or taxed.
• Assessment of Bills of Cost set down for taxation and those that are not set down.
• Assessment of Bills of Cost for block settlements.
• Prepare and make cost contributions and settle Bills of Cost.
• Evaluate assessor invoices and accounts in terms of the SLA and applicable tariff.
• Conduct research on case law and legal principles to keep abreast of developments.
• Preparation of executive summaries for legal costs as per threshold.

Assessment of Service Provider’s Bills and Invoices (Panel Attorneys)

•  Evaluate and tax Advocate’s accounts in terms of SLA and applicable tariff.
•  Evaluate panel attorney’s files in terms of the RAF tariff.
•  Evaluate assessor invoices and accounts in terms of the SLA and applicable tariff.
•  Assessment of disbursement of Experts Accounts.
•  Referral of SLA breaches to panel management.
•  Attend to block bookings.

Attend to Taxation of Bills of Cost

•  Prepare and make offers and settle Bills of Cost.
•  Attendance at Magistrate’s Court and Regional Court for taxations.
•  Attendance at High Courts for taxations.
•  Appearance before the Taxing Master to argue complex legal principles governing taxations of legal costs.

Attend Reviews of Bills of Cost

• Appearance before the taxing Master and the Magistrate to argue complex legal principles governing taxations of legal costs.
•  Prepare review documents for review proceedings in court.
•  Serve review documents to opposing party citing the basis of review.
•  Attend court and appear to argue the basis of review in front of Magistrate or Judge.

Attend to Litigation relating to Costs

•  Negotiate reasonable settlements of costs.
•  Request cost payment
•  Recover extra costs where applicable and advise Management accordingly.
•  Instruct panel attorneys to oppose and settle costs and cost applications.
•  Provide advice to Legal Department in respect of Litigation processes received.
•  Updating the status of claims view note.
•  Perform verification to ensure that the right payment is made to the correct Attorney

Authorisation of Bills of Cost for payment

•  Attend to Fee analysis.
•  Perform duplicate checks.
•  Evaluation of Bills of cost that is settled and or taxed.
•  Process Bills of Cost that are settled and or taxed.
•  Approve Bills of Cost that are settled and or taxed in terms of delegation of authority policy.
•  Request payment on the system.
•  Prepare the source documents to be forwarded to Finance Department for checking and payment.
•  Keep daily statistics of activities and trends on work allocated and work to be assessed.
•  Submit daily and monthly statistics as required by Management.
•  Keep record of statistics for performance management and review.
•  Attend queries from stakeholders pertaining to Bills of Cost settled and outstanding payments of accounts.
•  Referral of Writs Reports to Quality Assurance.
•  Prepare Batch Report for Payment Department.

Play advisory role and function to Claims Departments, Attorneys and Cost Consultants

• Prepare and render advice to claims sections, attorneys and cost consultants.
• Instruct panel attorneys to attend taxations on behalf of the RAF in respect of courts not falling within the proximity of offices of RAF.
• Conduct research on Case Law and legal principles to keep abreast of developments.

Quality Assurance on Writs Reporting

•  Investigation, reconciliation of Writs and Reporting.

Qualifications and Experience       

• NQF 7 (Bachelor’s Degree or Advanced Diploma) in Law or related qualification.
• Admission as an Attorney would be advantageous.
• Relevant 3 years’ experience in Claims or Legal Costs environment.