Newsletter – December 2024

From the CEO

This will be my last newsletter as CEO of the CLSB. It has been a pleasure to meet so many of you during my time here; I feel privileged to have become part of the Costs Lawyer community. Let’s take a look at what we have achieved together over the last five and a half years.

Overall, the CLSB has transformed from being the poorest performing legal regulator in 2019 to being the joint highest performing legal regulator in 2024, as assessed by the Legal Services Board. This shows what a small profession can do when everyone is pulling in the same direction.

This transformation has allowed us to deliver the following improvements for the profession and its clients:

  • A complete review of all our rules, guidance and policy statements between 2020 and 2023, ensuring they are fit for purpose and operating effectively.
  • The introduction of online application forms for all processes, including renewing your practising certificate.
  • A new relevant and robust Code of Conduct, establishing the core ethical standards for modern costs practice.
  • An Ethics Hub for practitioners, offering practical resources to help you navigate ethical challenges in your working life.
  • Launch of the Costs Lawyer Professional Qualification, along with a new framework for Qualifying Experience.
  • Development of a Competency Statement and Ongoing Competency Framework for the profession, defining what Costs Lawyers, their clients and their employers see as essential aspects of the job.
  • A move to complete transparency and openness, publishing all our board papers, minutes and decision documents online.
  • A deep knowledge of the profession through research and data capture, including in important areas such as the use of technology and AI in costs, diversity in the profession, and the role of Costs Lawyers in the wider legal sector.

Many more initiatives are underway, including our campaign to make Costs Lawyers eligible for judicial appointment and development of the Costs Lawyer apprenticeship in collaboration with ACL Training and employers.

This is just a snapshot of what we have managed to achieve together during my time at the CLSB. I have no doubt that I leave the profession in safe hands.

Kate Wellington

CEO

Regulatory News

New guidance for costs law firms

We recently published new guidance for costs law firms, covering issues like supervision of work, your business’ client protection obligations, and ensuring that employed Costs Lawyers are able to meet their regulatory duties.

This guidance is relevant to anyone who has a position of responsibility in a costs law firm. If you are employed by a costs law firm, it will also help you understand your employer’s obligations to you as a regulated employee.

Start a conversation about pay gaps in your workplace

We want all Costs Lawyers to be paid fairly. A recent CLSB survey showed a substantial pay gap between female and male Costs Lawyers. To help tackle this, we have published a guide entitled How to address pay gaps in your workplace, which is now available in the Ethics Hub. The guide provides information about differences in pay and earnings in the Costs Lawyer profession, and makes suggestions for how you and your employer can begin to address these differences.

The guide also provides links to resources that will help you identify and tackle pay gaps in your organisation not just between men and women, but across other characteristics as well.

Please complete the career pathways survey

If you didn’t complete our career pathways survey when you renewed your practising certificate, please do so by 31 December 2024, after which the survey will close. You can access the survey here. It only takes 5 minutes to complete and all answers are anonymous and confidential.

This year’s survey focuses on entry into, and progression within, the Costs Lawyer profession. It asks about the different paths that led individuals to a career in costs law. This is the start of a wider project to support Costs Lawyers into and through successful careers.

Reminder: Registration open for February 2025 CLPQ intake

ACL Training is now accepting applications to commence the Costs Lawyer Professional Qualification in 2025. ACL Training’s flexible course can be undertaken in two years, with various exemptions available for prior learning. If any of your colleagues or team members might benefit from undertaking the new qualification, please encourage them to get in touch.

More information is available via ACL Training’s website or the CLSB’s qualification webpage. Applications close on 31 January 2025.

New ACL fully funded scholarships

The ACL is to provide two students a year with a fully funded scholarship to undertake the CLPQ to support social mobility in the profession. One scholarship will be provided for each of the two cohorts per year. Applications are now open for the February 2025 intake with a closing date of 15 January 2025.

Alongside the usual mandatory criteria for paying applicants, scholarship applications will need to have attended a state-funded school and achieved five GCSEs. Applicants will also need to detail their motivations for applying and explain why they feel they would benefit from the scholarship.

More information is available on the ACL website.

Holiday period office closure

Our office will be closed from 23 December 2023 to 3 January 2024 for the holiday period, other than for urgent enquiries. We will reopen on Monday 6 January 2024.

Until then we will only respond to urgent matters such as a query or complaint that poses a serious and immediate risk to a client or the public. Non-urgent email and telephone messages, including enquiries relating to 2024 practising certificates, will be dealt with as soon as possible once the office reopens.

Spotlight on… tips for surviving the festive season

In this newsletter, we turn our spotlight on tips for surviving the festive season. Sarah Fitsell, Communications Manager at LawCare, provides advice to lawyers on how to switch off during the holidays.

“Many of us will take time off over Christmas but it can be very difficult to switch off, especially with hybrid working and when technology has made it so easy for everyone to stay connected. Here are our tips to make your break as relaxing as possible and to help you start back in the new year feeling well rested.”

Read More

Up and Coming…

Expect more from us shortly on:

  • Our annual profile of the Costs Lawyer profession in 2024
  • New guidance on who owns client files and when you can exercise a lien
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