An Interim Statute Invoice is an Invoice raised during the matter for work done in the period to which it relates. It closes the invoicing period and all work done in that period. If any work is inadvertently omitted from the Invoice, then it may have one of two effects. Either it renders the invoice to be simply a Non-Statute Invoice, in which case we need to rebill the matter before we can sue to recover fees; or it does not, in which case we cannot sue for the fees that were omitted from the Invoice. Instead, the Interim Statute Invoice is deemed to be an Interim Non-Statute Invoice. This means the Statute Invoice needs to be done again to secure payment and the time period for the client to challenge the Invoice starts only on the presentation of that later compliant Statute Invoice. The client has an absolute right to apply for an assessment of fees within one month of delivery of the compliant interim statutory invoice. The court has discretion to apply longer periods.
Unless you state otherwise, all our Invoices are Interim Statute Invoices. For clarity, these are also described in the invoicing section of Keyed-In as Standard' Invoices. You should ensure you invoice all the time and disbursements in the period covered by the relevant . Please see below in respect of CFAs.
Hint: If you have a general retainer, then this can be a particular issue. You will need to invoice all time for the period even if that time relates to different matters within the general file. If this is not possible, then you need to open a separate file to avoid effectively writing off your unbilled time as a result of the requirement inherent in statute invoices that they contain all the charges for the period they cover.