Newsletter – July 2025

From the CEO

As this is my first newsletter as CEO of the Costs Lawyer Standards Board (CLSB), I want to begin by saying hello, and by welcoming any thoughts or feedback you might wish to share with me.

I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the significant achievements of my predecessor, Kate Wellington, and to thank the outstanding CLSB team, the engine room of the organisation, for their continued dedication and impact.

Last month, the CLSB Board held its annual strategy session alongside our summer Board meeting. At that meeting, the proposed 2026 business plan and practising certificate fee was agreed. The consultation on these proposals is now open, and I encourage you to take a look and share your views.

As part of our strategic review, the Board assessed progress against our mid-term strategy and considered where we need to focus more attention and resources. Key areas of emphasis include:

  • Cyber resilience: Enhancing the CLSB’s capability to remain robust in the face of increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.
  • Support for the profession: Strengthening our efforts to help Costs Lawyers meet regulatory expectations around professional ethics, equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), and ongoing competence.

In the months ahead, we will be developing a new package of tools and materials to promote the value of regulation to clients, to other legal professionals, and to unregulated costs advisers. We will be engaging with the ACL Council as we shape this work, but we also welcome volunteers from the profession who are willing to review and provide feedback on early drafts. If you’re interested in being involved, please contact us at [email protected].

I am looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible in due course, especially at the ACL Conference in November.

Paul

Paul Mosson

CEO

Regulatory News

Annual Risk Outlook

The CLSB’s Annual Risk Outlook is now available on our website. While no risk analysis can predict every change in the legal landscape, the Risk Outlook is intended as a useful baseline to help you identify emerging risks and opportunities.

We also recommend that you reflect on the Annual Risk Outlook when considering your CPD needs and objectives at the start of each practising year.

Reminder: 2026 practising fee consultation now open

We are now consulting on the practising fee for 2026. We are proposing to set the fee at £312, an increase of 2.3%.

The consultation poses various questions about the impact of the fee, the benefits and costs of regulation, and the CLSB’s plans for 2026. We encourage you to respond on any matters that are of interest to you. The closing date for the consultation is 14 August 2025 and responses can be sent to [email protected].

Returning to practice after an absence of over two years

We have updated our Guidance Note on Conditions on practising with a new process of competency checks that will apply to Costs Lawyers returning to practice after an absence of more than two years.

To ensure that all regulated Costs Lawyers have up to date knowledge and expertise, those reinstating after an absence of more than two years must show either 12 CPD points in the previous 12 month period, or work under the supervision of a Costs Lawyer until they have obtained 12 CPD points. Anyone not renewing their practising certificate for the following year will be sent more information about the requirements. This will allow them the opportunity to reflect on the potential consequences of their decision.

Audit of complaints procedures – be prepared!

Our annual audit of complaints procedures will take place soon. Get ready for the audit by checking that your/your organisation’s complaints procedure meets the requirements set out in the Code of Conduct and our Guidance Note on Complaints procedures, both of which can be found in the Costs Lawyer Handbook.

These requirements apply to all Costs Lawyers, regardless of the type of organisation that they work in. Please ensure your procedure has up to date contact details for the CLSB and the Legal Ombudsman; our audit experience shows these are often out of date. Information about our approach to supervision and lessons from our audits of complaints procedures are also available on our website.

New scenarios in the Ethics Hub

We have recently published four new scenarios in the Ethics Hub:

  • You get a complaint from a longstanding professional client about a matter for which you did not send a client care letter.
  • Your client continues to complain to you after the complaint has been dismissed by the CLSB and LeO.
  • Your instructing solicitor asks you to reduce the costs you have apportioned to their client’s former solicitor.
  • Your new colleague confides their concerns about a work social event.

The ethical scenarios are fictional, but are based on real enquiries and complaints received by the CLSB and other regulators. They are not intended to provide concrete answers to ethical questions; in practice, every ethical challenge will have unique characteristics and you must decide how to meet your professional obligations on a case by case basis. These ethical scenarios are there to guide you and help you consider relevant factors. Always contact us if you need further advice.

Regulatory Performance Assessment

Finally and in case you missed it in the last newsletter, the CLSB was once again rated by the Legal Services Board as the only legal regulator meeting all standards in its 2024 Regulatory Performance Assessment, a testament to the rigour and professionalism of the team.

Spotlight on… Building the Future of the Profession: the Costs Lawyer Apprenticeship

In this newsletter, we turn our spotlight on the future of the profession. Paula Walkden, Chair of the Costs Lawyer Apprenticeship Trailblazer Group explains the work that has been done to date and how the apprenticeship will work. Paula also explains the opportunities for employers, and the importance of the apprenticeship in advertising the profession and promoting costs as a career of choice.

“For the Costs Lawyer profession, this is a pivotal moment. We have the chance to shape how the next generation enters the field….”

Read More

Up and Coming…

Expect more from us shortly on:

  • A communications toolkit for all Costs Lawyers to raise the profile of the profession and the importance of regulation
  • A language translation tool for the CLSB website
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