Our Services.
Your Legal Costs are a specialist team who are here to assist with all aspects of costs recovery in every area of law.
Here at Your, we believe that maximising costs recovery needs a bespoke approach which is why we offer a huge array of services to meet the needs of all firms.
Select from the Services list below to find out more information on how we can assist you.
Bill Drafting
At Your Legal Costs, we pride ourselves on having a specialist
team of Costs Lawyers & Costs Draftsmen who strive to
exceed & surpass our clients’ expectations in Bill Drafting.
With over 20 Costs Lawyers & Costs Draftsmen in our city
centre Liverpool office, we have a team of people capable of
accurately preparing a Bill of Costs in many areas of Law. We
ensure that every Bill of Costs, regardless of its size, is
prepared with attention to detail & includes as much relevant
information as possible from the Narrative right through to the
Documents sections.
Our areas of expertise include (but are not restricted to):
Our Costs Lawyers & Costs Draftsmen are trained in a specific
manner to forensically examine our clients’ files in order to
prepare a formal Bill of Costs suitable for Detailed/Provisional
Assessment.
Your Legal Costs have strict service level agreements for
drafting a Bill of Costs with all of our clients which are as
follows:
Negotiation
At most Costs firms, negotiation is just a numbers game. Here
at Your Legal Costs, our negotiators are highly trained
individuals, fully au-fait with all aspects of costs law and the CPR.
Each Negotiator carries out a detailed analysis of your claim
for costs and is fully capable of identifying and seeking
resolution of any issues that may arise to ensure you receive
the right level of costs on all matters.
Whilst we pride ourselves on the speed of our successful
negotiations, our staff are targeted based upon what they
recover for our customers, meaning we are fully aligned with
your aim to recover the maximum amounts possible.
Statement of Costs
At Your Legal Costs we understand that our clients will
occasionally require an urgent Statement of Costs – N260 to
be prepared prior to a summary assessment taking place. A
Statement of Costs must be filed at least 24 hours prior to the
Hearing taking place.
Your Legal Costs currently receive instructions to prepare
Statements of Costs for:
We strive to return all Statements of Costs within 72 hours of
instruction & shall liaise with our clients throughout the
process, particularly to discuss the issue of any potential
future costs.
If you would like to instruct Your Legal Costs to prepare a
Statement of Costs – N260 on your behalf, please do not
hesitate to contact the team on 0151 449 0005 or by email to
instructions@yourlegalcosts.co.uk
Advocacy & Assessments
High quality, experienced and qualified Advocacy covering the length and
breadth of the country on disputes large or small.
Dealing with any litigated case requires an attention to detail and practical
focus which experienced advocates are best placed to provide.
That experience ensures that your costs claim is well prepared and presented in order to achieve maximum recovery.
Our Advocacy offering includes nationwide coverage of Detailed Assessments. However with the introduction of Provisional Assessments written advocacy and preparation has never been more important. Replies to Points of Dispute are often the only opportunity to put the claimants case across.
We pride ourselves on our willingness to support clients to assessment and this reflects in our excellent success rate.
Post Settlement Recovery
Following settlement of your Costs and return of your file, details of the Costs recovered are passed to our Post Settlement Recovery Team.
We will keep constant contact with Third Parties, on your behalf, to expedite payment of Costs to you. Our team will keep you updated to ensure you are aware of when you can expect to receive payment and also to enforce for payment if necessary.
This service will help ensure efficiency and timely collection to your incoming cash-flow and is provided at no extra cost to you.
Costs Management
In Multi Track litigation costs management is becoming more
and more important. Our specialist team at Your Legal Costs
have been involved in Costs Management since inception and
have acted on behalf of clients in Commercial Litigation,
Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence.
The team can assist with all aspects of
costs management including:
We can also deal with variation to existing Costs Management
Orders, applications for relief from sanctions and any other
guidance you require in relation to budgeting.
QOCS/Defendant Disputes
We know that anything can happen in litigation. Costs orders can be made against Claimants and Bills of Costs presented at equal to or more than the claim is worth for something such as an interlocutory application.
Many claims are made by Defendants in ignorance of the Qualified One Way Costs Shifting Rules or Fixed Costs offset provisions. Alternatively, other claims are made pursuant to “escape” clauses in the QOCS scheme.
Your Legal Costs and their advocates has the experience of reassuring and guiding their client’s through these minefields to ensure that, should it be necessary, the client’s liability is never more than absolutely necessary.
Audits
At Your Legal Costs we have a number of senior members of the Drafting team who are able to carry out a Legal Auditing Service.
We have successfully carried out multiple audits on many firms of Solicitors at the request of external funders who had requested Your Legal Costs to examine Solicitors WIP ledgers & files of papers as to whether the funding provided was/is being used as intended.
Internal Auditing can also be used almost as a health check for our clients existing WIP book. Your Legal Costs are able to assess client files and ensure our clients are maximising their earning potential on all cases.
During an audit we can consider the needs & requirements of any business on an individual basis, some examples are as follows:
We strive to return all Statements of Costs within 72 hours of instruction & shall liaise with our clients throughout the process, particularly to discuss the issue of any potential future costs.
IIf you would like to instruct Your Legal Costs to prepare a Statement of Costs – N260 on your behalf, please do not hesitate to contact the team on 0151 449 0005 or by email to instructions@yourlegalcosts.co.uk
Mediation
As the complexity of disputes continue to increase, parties on both sides are facing a greater degree of litigation risk, coupled with a potentially significant liability for adverse costs if the Court finds against them. Whilst we encourage a robust approach to negotiations here at Your Legal Costs, it is often pragmatism that leads to the best results in matters where the outcome is far from certain. Mediation is a great tool in these circumstances and represents an effective, confidential and cost effective solution.
If required, one of our Accredited Mediators will attend your mediation appointment and will help the parties to find common ground and compromise where possible, whilst providing impartial support throughout the meeting. Generally both parties will share liability for the mediator’s fees, rather than one party left holding the bill at the end of a costly trial. Whilst we specialise in mediation of costs disputes, we are happy to accept instructions for mediation in all aspects of civil litigation.
Funding
We work with numerous Cost Advance Funding Providers to deliver funding facilities to our clients, as a means of maximizing cash flow whilst progressing cases. This helps to avoid the negative impact of cash flow pressures forcing the acceptance of low settlements, significantly improving your negotiating power.
General Consultancy
Our Advocates and technical advisors provide general advice either on an ad hoc or ongoing basis in all areas of costs and contract law.
This includes the provision of drafting Deeds of Assignment or Novation, Conditional Fee Agreements, Damages Based Agreements and innovative hybrid arrangements in all matters from commercial through to personal injury.
We believe that waiting until the end to check your ability to get paid for the work you have done is to leave it too late. A compliant and profitable charging arrangement is essential to any business and we are able to provide assistance and guidance to all firms whether current or future clients.
Training & Seminars
Costs litigation and it associated rules occupy a constantly shifting landscape and remaining up to date with knowledge of recent authorities and practical approaches is essential. At Your Legal Costs we have a number of individuals with a wide range of skills and experience who can deliver bespoke training to fit the needs of you and your teams. Whether you require a small scale in house training session for your fee earners on a particular issue or require one of our speakers to attend an event or conference to speak to delegates, the same quality of training will be provided along with high quality reference materials.
Our clients have requested training in the following areas although we are happy to provide training on any aspect of costs litigation:
