The Association of Costs Lawyers (ACL) has received an unprecedented number of applications for its new training course, with 185 registrations received to undertake the three-year qualification starting this month. In previous years, the ACL costs lawyer qualification has attracted around 100 students each year.
The 2014 intake is a mixture of law graduates and non-law graduates, which is an endorsement that the new course provides a credible first choice for those interested in pursuing a legal career in costs with associated rights to conduct reserved legal activities*.
Irwin Mitchell, which already employs 24 fully-qualified Costs Lawyers, is enrolling 12 staff members on the course this year. One of the UK’s largest costs practices, Kain Knight, is supporting at least 17 of its staff through the course while Masters Legal Costs Services and Law Lords Cost Consultants, will enrol eight and seven students respectively. 95% of this year’s new students will be sponsored by their employer.
Costs Lawyer and associate Steven Green, who heads the costs team at Irwin Mitchell, says: “We encourage all of our costs law fee earners to undertake the ACL qualification. The qualification is very well recognised by the judiciary and the courts and, I believe it has the added benefit of enabling qualified Costs Lawyers to achieve higher rights of audience in costs related matters and higher hourly rates than their non-qualified counterparts.”
The fact that Costs Lawyers are trained and regulated, along with their ability to undertake reserved legal activities, was recognised in the recent guideline rates review and from October 2014 they will be able to recover up to Grade B rates under recommendations accepted by the Master of the Rolls.
Sue Nash, chairman of ACL, says: “I’m thrilled that so many students – and their employers – recognise the value of a recognised costs qualification. It shows that that the legal profession understands the value of good quality costs advice and how central this has become. This is not only true in an individual case but also across a solicitor’s practice as a whole”.
The new training regime, which has been approved by the Legal Services Board, is designed to ensure that the next generation of costs specialists are up to the demands of the post-Jackson era.
Central to the new course is the recognition that many trainees will be in full-time employment, juggling both study and work in a high-pressured environment. Hence, the new qualification will be delivered through a bespoke online learning platform, accessible on mobile phones and tablets, to enable easier access to learning materials, tutor interaction and administrative support.
Another major change over the previous qualification format is that students will be examined at the end of each year’s course. This formal assessment will help to ensure that students are on top of their study programme, and are confident that they have the learning base from which to approach the next year’s study.
Students take three units, one each year, broken down into various modules. The first two years of the course cover all the fundamental building blocks to become a Costs Lawyer – from knowledge of procedure to ethics and advocacy – while in the third year there are options to allow for specialisation in the costs of different areas of practice, such as personal injury and clinical negligence, land law, criminal law, company law, and family law.
For further information, please contact:
Kerry Jack
Black Letter Communications
Tel: 020 3567 1208
Email kerry.jack@blackletterpr.co.uk
Notes to editors:
*Reports suggest that there will be over 12,500 law graduates this year who will be unable to secure a trainee solicitor position or pupillage due to a shortage of available jobs yet ACL says there are an increasing number of jobs in the legal costs sector with employers crying out for good quality, trained candidates.
Association of Costs Lawyers
The Association of Costs Lawyers (ACL) is a membership body representing and promoting the status and interests of Cost Lawyers in England and Wales. Founded in 1977, the Association was granted authorised body status in 2007 and is a front-line regulator, able to authorise its members to undertake the reserved legal activities of litigation and advocacy. In recognition of this new-found status, ACL changed its name from the Association of Law Costs Draftsmen in 2011. Costs Lawyers are regulated by the Costs Lawyer Standards Board. www.costslawyer.co.uk
The term ‘costs draftsman’ denotes an unregulated and unqualified person operating in costs and those who instruct costs draftsmen have no recourse to either the Legal Ombudsman or the Costs Lawyer Standards Board.