Letter · Costs, billing & litigation funding
Progress report of legal costs incurred
Written report, given without charge on a reasonable request, of the legal costs incurred to date or since the last bill, with the figures taken from the ledger.
- Kind
- Letter. A letter or email you adapt and send.
- Where it applies
- New South Wales
- AI use
- Yellow You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at
- 22 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 22 October 2026 against the 4 authorities it cites, for New South Wales.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when the client asks for a report of costs incurred. If another law practice retained you on the client's behalf, report to that practice unless it has stopped acting. This is not a bill and it does not start the time for an itemised-bill request.
Used for these tasks
- Compare a draft bill to the last costs disclosure and any updates
- Draft a costs disclosure from the matter scope and the scale or estimate
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
AI may add up the unbilled time and disbursements from the ledger export. A principal checks the total and whether a fresh costs disclosure is required before the report is sent.
AI may
- Total professional fees and disbursements since the last bill from a supplied ledger or time export
- Place the last disclosed estimate next to that total
AI must not
- Must not call the report a bill or ask for payment
- Must not include time that is not on the export
- Must not decide that the request is unreasonable or that the report can wait
The lawyer checks
- The request is reasonable, the report is free, and it is sent within a reasonable period
- The figures match the records and are described as incurred, not as a bill
- If the total is a significant change from the last disclosure, a s 174(1)(b) notice is sent as well
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is available after you log in. It is free. When you log in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
More in Costs, billing & litigation funding
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- Engagement and costs agreement clauses: AI use, client consent and charging for AI-assisted work
- Itemised bill and letter answering a request for one
- Timekeeper check before billing generative AI work (United States)
- Billing and time-recording policy for AI-assisted work
- Worksheet comparing a draft bill with the costs disclosure
- Letter when a flat fee should change because a tool did the work (United States)
- Disclosure to an associated third party payer, and of another law practice
- Notice to client of a significant change in legal costs (Uniform Law s 174(1)(b))
- Litigation funding agreement review checklist (including class actions)
All precedents for Costs, billing & litigation funding · Tasks and AI use in this area