A legal costs barrister for the argument about who pays.

• Detailed assessment proceedings in the Senior Courts Costs Office and the county court, including points of dispute, replies and the assessment hearing itself.
• Costs budgeting, Precedent H and Precedent R, and advocacy at costs and case management conferences where budgets are fixed.
• Security for costs applications under CPR Part 25, for and against.
• Interim costs applications, including costs of and occasioned by specific applications, wasted costs orders and non party costs orders against third parties.
• Party and party costs arguments on indemnity basis versus standard basis, proportionality and conduct.
• Solicitor and client costs disputes, including assessments under the Solicitors Act 1974 and challenges to a former solicitor's bill.
• Costs and litigation funding advice, including conditional fee agreements, damages based agreements, after the event insurance and third party funding.
• Appeals on costs questions in the High Court, the Court of Appeal and, on points of general importance, the Supreme Court.

The detailed assessment process looks mechanical and is anything but. The bill has to be drawn correctly, points of dispute have to identify the strongest lines of attack rather than scatter objections, and the replies have to defend the bill on principle rather than item by item attrition. The hearing itself rewards advocates who know the costs judges, the practice directions and the current authorities on proportionality and hourly rates.

On the receiving side the objective is to protect recovery, which starts long before the hearing with a well kept file and a budget that was properly managed at the costs and case management conferences. On the paying side the objective is to reduce the bill by attacking the retainer, the hourly rates, the delegation of work and the proportionality of the overall figure against the sums in issue.

Our panel includes practitioners whose costs work is recognised in the directories, including Legal 500 2025 and Chambers UK ranked counsel, alongside experienced costs lawyers who handle the preparation and representation at assessment hearings day in and day out. The costs team we assemble for your matter is built around the value and complexity of the bill.

Most costs money is won or lost while the substantive case is still running. A budget fixed too low at a costs and case management conference will cap recovery years later. An application for security for costs made promptly can change the settlement dynamic entirely. A wasted costs application, or the threat of one, concentrates minds on the other side.

Costs counsel advises on these decisions as they arise. That includes drafting the budget with a view to the eventual assessment, advising on offers under Part 36 and their costs consequences, and arguing the interim applications where court costs are allocated as the case progresses. A Part 36 offer pitched correctly can shift the entire costs risk onto your opponent from the date it expires.

Funding arrangements also need review. The enforceability of a conditional fee agreement, the recoverability of an after the event premium, and the terms of third party funding all affect what a win is actually worth. Specialist advice on costs and litigation funding at the outset avoids unwelcome surprises at the end.

Costs disputes arise in every court and tribunal in England and Wales, from a county court assessment of a modest fast track bill to a multi million pound assessment in the Senior Courts Costs Office following a High Court trial. Tribunal costs are rarer but increasingly significant, particularly in the employment and tax jurisdictions.

Appeals on costs points go to the High Court and the Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court has reshaped the law on costs several times in recent years, particularly on proportionality and the effect of Part 36 offers. Panel counsel appear at every level and advise realistically on whether a costs appeal has prospects before money is spent on permission.

Where a barrister is instructed for the appeal or the difficult point of principle, a costs lawyer from the panel can continue to handle the assessment preparation, which keeps the overall spend proportionate.

A written advice on a costs dispute, a review of a bill, a set of points of dispute or replies, and attendance at a hearing are each quoted as a fixed fee once we have seen the papers. Detailed assessment hearings are quoted by the day with refreshers for longer hearings.

For solicitors, instructing a specialist costs barrister or costs lawyer on a single matter is often more economical than maintaining an in house costs team, and the fee for the advocacy is usually itself recoverable in part on assessment. For paying parties, the saving made by an effective challenge to a bill routinely exceeds the cost of making it.

Tell us which side of the costs dispute you are on, the stage the matter has reached and the size of the bill or budget, and we will come back with options and a fee basis the same working day wherever possible.