Costs Lawyers are experts in the area of legal costs law and practice. Legal costs might include:

• the fees that you pay for legal advice
• the cost of bringing or defending court proceedings
• costs incurred by other parties to court proceedings that you might have to pay if you lose

These costs can be high and the law on legal costs is complex. Costs Lawyers can therefore represent your interests and help you make informed decisions.

You might need a Costs Lawyer if you are involved in litigation. Usually this will be in the context of a civil court case, but Costs Lawyers also act in criminal cases where costs are payable by the prosecution. They can advise on the amount of costs that are likely to be incurred in the litigation or prepare details of costs that you have already incurred where you are entitled to reimbursement from another party. They can also advise on costs you are required to pay to another party, and challenge those costs where appropriate.

You might need a Costs Lawyers if you have concerns about the fees you have been charged by a legal professional, such as a barrister or solicitor. Costs Lawyers can also provide advice at the time you enter into a contract with a legal adviser, including “no win no fee” arrangements.

Costs Lawyers deal with all sorts of costs issues. Examples of services they can provide include:

• Advising on the charging and recovery of legal costs and disbursements (such as fees paid to an expert, for example).
• Advising on litigation funding.
• Preparing costs budgets.
• Preparing discussion documents to inform the court on budget issues.
• Preparing schedules of costs.
• Preparing bills of costs for provisional/detailed assessment by the court.
• Preparing points of dispute on a bill of costs and replies.
• Representing you in negotiations aimed at settling disputes about costs without the need for a court hearing, including mediation.
• Attending court as your advocate on costs matters, such as at a detailed assessment hearing.
• Acting as an expert witness on legal costs matters.
• Advising on legal aid costs.

In multi-track cases commenced after 1 April 2013 in either the County Court or High Court, all parties (except litigants in person) are ordinarily required to file budgets setting out their costs to date and estimated costs for each stage in the proceedings. This is known as costs budgeting or costs management and Costs Lawyers can assist with all aspects of this process, as well as revising costs budgets throughout the course of litigation.    

Costs Lawyers often work closely with solicitors and barristers. You might have already instructed a solicitor or barrister to conduct your litigation, but a Costs Lawyer can assist where specialist costs advice is needed. Your solicitor will often be able to recommend a Costs Lawyer with appropriate expertise for your case.

Alternatively, you might wish to challenge the fees charged by your solicitor or barrister, and a Costs Lawyer can help you do this.

Yes. Costs Lawyers work for all types of clients, including individuals, small businesses, large businesses and other professionals. You don’t need to go through a solicitor or barrister to instruct a Costs Lawyer.

No. Costs Lawyers must not accept a client’s money, unless this is in payment of the Costs Lawyer’s fees or to reimburse the Costs Lawyer for disbursements. A Costs Lawyer should always raise an invoice for their professional fees before they take any payment from you. This is designed to protect you and your money. Costs Lawyers are permitted to use a service called a third party managed account (TPMA) to help manage funds relating to your case. A TPMA is an account held at a bank or building society in the name of a third party, where that third party is an authorised payment institution. Accordingly, a Costs Lawyer who uses a TPMA does not handle your money directly. When using a TPMA, your Costs Lawyer should make you aware of the relevant terms and conditions and tell you about any fees or charges involved.

Some Costs Lawyers work in law firms that are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Those Costs Lawyers can accept your money “on account” (i.e. other than for invoiced professional fees or disbursements), because the law firm will have special bank accounts (called client accounts) where your money will be stored and there is a fund that provides compensation if something goes wrong.

A Costs Lawyer’s right to conduct litigation and represent you in court is limited to issues that relate to costs. An issue “relates to costs” if it relates to payment for legal representation (including pro bono representation) or payments relating to bringing or defending legal proceedings.

A costs lawyer can therefore represent you in challenging costs charged to you by a solicitor, but not to the extent that you want to allege your solicitor was negligent. In that case, a lawyer with expertise in dealing with negligence claims should be instructed instead. This is set out in the Costs Lawyer Code of Conduct.

No. Costs Lawyers are qualified professionals that must meet certain professional standards set by the Costs Lawyer Standards Board (CLSB). A person does not need to be qualified and regulated before they can advise consumers about matters relating to legal costs. Unregulated costs advisers are sometimes called costs draftsmen, or similar terms.

Costs Lawyers can do certain things that unregulated advisers can’t do and using a regulated Costs Lawyer offers special protections for clients.

Certain types of legal services can only be provided by qualified, regulated professionals. These are known as “reserved legal activities”. Unregulated advisers can’t carry out reserved legal activities, unless they benefit from one of the limited exemptions that are set out in legislation.

Costs Lawyers are authorised to do three reserved legal activities (assuming those activities relate to legal costs): they have the right to conduct litigation, represent their clients in court and administer oaths. By instructing a regulated Costs Lawyer, you give yourself the best chance of ensuring that your costs adviser can handle all costs aspects of your case.

Unlike unregulated advisers, Costs Lawyers have to meet certain professional standards at all times.

• They must complete the Costs Lawyer Qualification, which is a three-year Level 6 course, and keep up their training and development throughout their career.
• They must treat you fairly and follow a Code of Conduct for ethical behaviour.
• They must comply with our regulatory rules.
• If things go wrong, they must be covered by appropriate insurance and will have a procedure in place to deal with any complaints that might arise.
• As their client, you have the right to escalate a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.
• If a Costs Lawyer has not met their professional obligations, you can complain to us and we have the power to take disciplinary action.

The names of all Costs Lawyers regulated by the Costs Lawyer Standards Board are shown on our Register of Costs Lawyers. You can use the register to find a Costs Lawyer in your area or search the register to see if a particular person is regulated. The register also shows any current conditions on a Costs Lawyer’s ability to practise.

The mark of regulation is a logo indicating that a Costs Lawyer is regulated by the Costs Lawyer Standards Board. It can be used by Costs Lawyers as a badge of professionalism and ethical standards. You can see the mark at the bottom of this webpage. Look out for it when choosing a costs adviser.

Certain circumstances might lead us to impose conditions on a Costs Lawyer’s right to practise. A Costs Lawyer is not permitted to practise unless they comply with the conditions, until the conditions expire or are lifted. Examples of conditions include a limitation on the type of services the Costs Lawyer can provide, a requirement to do extra training or a requirement to provide information to us at regular intervals.

Conditions can be imposed as part of a disciplinary sanction (if the Costs Lawyer breaches our rules) or following disclosure by the Costs Lawyer of a matter that could impact their professional standing (like bankruptcy or a criminal offence).

A condition may also be imposed where a newly qualified Costs Lawyer has not yet completed the required two year period of Qualifying Experience. In that case, the condition will require the Costs Lawyer to practise under supervision until the period of Qualifying Experience is complete.

The Register of Costs Lawyers will indicate if there are conditions on a Costs Lawyer’s right to practise and what these are.

All Costs Lawyers who have a current practising certificate are listed on our Register of Costs Lawyers. Contact details are provided, and you can also look at the firm’s website for more information.

As a regulator, we can’t recommend any particular Costs Lawyer to an individual client. 

You can search the Register of Costs Lawyers by location to find a Costs Lawyer near you (as well as search by individual or organisation name, and other data). You can use the Filter to identify Costs Lawyers working in particular practice areas. Many Costs Lawyers accept instructions only from other legal professionals. If you are a private individual/litigant in person please filter the Register on “Litigants in Person” prior to contacting a Costs Lawyer.

Some Costs Lawyers, known as sole practitioners, work for themselves. Others work for costs law firms, which are organisations that specialise in costs law and practice, or within firms of solicitors. A small number of Costs Lawyers work in companies or government departments and advise their employer (rather than external clients) on costs matters.

When you instruct a Costs Lawyer, you should receive a client care letter which will set out information about the relationship. This will include: the basis of your instruction, who will carry out the work, their fees, the right to terminate the relationship and the process for making complaints. It is important that you receive and understand the client care letter, as it is a binding contract between you and your Costs Lawyer. If you don’t understand something in the letter, make sure you ask.

Costs Lawyers must adhere to our Code of Conduct and other regulatory rules. You can expect your Costs Lawyer to treat you fairly, behave professionally and act in your interests.

If you are dissatisfied with the service received from a Costs Lawyer, or have another type of complaint, you should first approach the Costs Lawyer. They will talk to you about the issue and try to find a resolution. If you are not happy with their response, you can find information about what to do next on our complain about a Costs Lawyer page.