---
title: "Without prejudice save as to costs offer, with the client's settlement figures kept off the letter"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/precedents/costs-billing-and-litigation-funding/calderbank-costs-offer"
type: "precedent"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "a42-calderbank-costs-offer"
area_id: "A42"
kind: "letter"
ai_level: "yellow"
version: 1
task_ids: ["A42-A20260923-3"]
law_stated_as_at: "2026-10-22"
---

# Without prejudice save as to costs offer, with the client's settlement figures kept off the letter

> Letter of offer made without prejudice except as to costs, using only figures the principal has approved, plus a separate note of the costs estimates to give the client before a litigious settlement is signed.

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/precedents/costs-billing-and-litigation-funding/calderbank-costs-offer  
Law stated as at: 2026-10-22

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

- Kind: Letter. A letter or email you adapt and send.
- Practice area: [Costs, billing & litigation funding](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/costs-billing-and-litigation-funding.md)
- Jurisdictions: New South Wales
- AI level: Yellow. You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at: 2026-10-22
- Status: Maintained. Checked on 2026-10-22 against the 3 authorities it cites, for New South Wales.

## When to use it

Use when the principal has decided to make a costs-consequences offer that is not a notice under the court rules. In New South Wales proceedings, decide first whether an offer under UCPR r 20.26 is the better instrument. Do not put the client's own costs estimates in the letter to the other party.

## Used for these tasks

- [Draft an offer of compromise or without-prejudice costs letter from the approved figures](https://ailawframework.com/obligations/costs-billing-and-litigation-funding/draft-an-offer-of-compromise-or-without-prejudice-costs-letter-from-the.md)

## How AI may be used

AI may assemble the letter around figures and a time for acceptance that the principal has already written down. The principal sets the offer and approves every sentence that will be sent.

**AI may:**

- Insert the approved sum, the claim it covers and the acceptance date into the numbered paragraphs
- Check that the letter does not say it is made under the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules

**AI must not:**

- Must not choose the amount, the costs consequence or the time for acceptance
- Must not copy the client's costs estimates into the letter to the other party
- Must not predict that a court will order indemnity costs

**The lawyer checks:**

- The principal has chosen this form rather than an offer under the court rules, and has approved the figure
- The letter is marked without prejudice except as to costs, and it does not claim to be an offer under UCPR r 20.26
- Before any settlement is executed, the client has the s 177 estimates in the separate note

## Authorities

- [Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) r 20.26 (requirements of an offer of compromise, which this letter does not meet unless it is redrawn as that notice)](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_reg/ucpr2005305/s20.26.html)
- [Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW) s 177 (estimates to the client before a litigious settlement is executed)](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/lpul333/s177.html)
- [Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW) s 183 (a costs agreement must not calculate fees by reference to the amount recovered)](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/lpul333/s183.html)

## Full text and drafting notes

The full text and the drafting notes are not part of this public page. Signed-in firm accounts can read them at https://ailawframework.com/precedents/costs-billing-and-litigation-funding/calderbank-costs-offer and through the signed-in MCP connector https://ailawframework.com/mcp/firm.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*