Officer: Legal Cost Validation x3 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 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 costs 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

Authorization 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 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.