Officer Legal Cost Validation x3

Division:  Operations

Reference No:  3646

Location:  

Durban, Kwazulu-Natal, ZA

Employment Type:  Fixed Term Contract

Disability (EE targeted role):  No

T.A.S.K Grade:  10

Job Posting Salary:  R434,656.00

Job Posting End Date:  21 Nov 2023

The Road Accident Fund’s mission is to provide appropriate cover to all road users within the borders of South Africa; to rehabilitate and compensate persons injured as a result of motor vehicle accidents in a timely and caring manner; and to actively promote safe use of our roads.

Purpose of the Job: To Validate and Assess Legal Cost Bills.

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 for 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

•  Evaluate and tax Advocate’s accounts in terms of SLA and applicable tariff.
•  Evaluate assessor invoices and accounts in terms of the SLA and applicable tariff.
•  Assessment of disbursement of Experts Accounts.
•  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 Bill of Cost

•  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

•  Negotiable reasonable settlements of costs.
•  Request cost payment
•  Recover extra costs where applicable and advise Management accordingly.
•  Provide advice to Legal Departments in respect of Litigation process 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 payments

•  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 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.
• 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.

Technical and behavioral competencies required

• Personal mastery
• Emotional wisdom
• Ethics and governance
• Customer orientation and customer focus
• Communication Skills (Written and Verbal).
• Report-writing skills.
• Computer Literacy.
• Decision making skills.
• Negotiation skills.
• Planning and organizing skills.
• Analytical thinking.
• Problem solving skills.
• Administration skills. 
• Team player with tenacity to work independently.
• In-depth knowledge and thorough understanding of RAF Act.
• Attention to detail and ability to work under extreme pressure.

The Road Accident Fund subscribes to the principles of employment equity and preference will be given to People with Disabilities.

Applicants who have not received any correspondence from us within six weeks from the closing date can consider themselves unsuccessful

Security Vetting shall be conducted on all prospective employees

It is the applicants’ responsibility to have foreign qualification evaluated by the South African Qualification Authority (SAQA) and to provide proof of such evaluation.

Click here to apply

All the best with your applications