Welcome to IG Legal
Our expert team of specialist costs lawyers offer a comprehensive legal costs service in all aspects of costs drafting from Civil Litigation to the Court of Protection and can help you recover a range of legal costs and provide expert advice and guidance throughout the process.
IG Legal is pleased to have amalgamated with Chancery Costs and Advantage Costs to enhance the service to our clients.
Our Services
Civil Litigation
Our experienced Costs Draftsmen are experts in civil litigation billing and inter partes cost negotiation. We work with you to make sure the bill of costs minimises any points of dispute and helps you recover the maximum amount.
Family
Our Law Costs Draftsmen understand how to maximise cost recovery in both private and legal aid family cases. We ensure any bill of costs is prepared and processed without delay and any issues are resolved quickly.
Criminal Billing
IG Legal is one of the leading Law Costs Draftsman firms for criminal billing and has a wealth of experience and expertise. Our experience of the Criminal Justice system allows us to ensure maximum cost recovery.
Legal Costs Solutions For All Areas Of Law
Here at IG Legal Limited, we are a forward-thinking team of experienced Law Costs Draftsman and specialist Costs Lawyers that aim to provide our clients with a competitive and bespoke costs drafting service. With a vast amount of experience in dealing with a wide variety of complex legal cost issues, we have built our reputation on offering a personal legal costs service to both solicitors and individuals.
We work with our clients in relation to private client matters, civil litigation, commercial litigation and legal aid billing and seek to assist law firms to maximise their recovery of costs. Our expertise will help solicitors challenge an opponent solicitor’s bill or to help navigate the detailed assessment of costs process. We provide a quick turnaround with our in-house billing and processing solutions.
We have experience in dealing with legal costs complementing your legal services at both County and High Court level, as well as in the Court of Appeal. Our team of specialist costs lawyers are able to meet special requirements and offer a bespoke service to meet your needs.
In addition, with the ever-changing landscape in legal aid we have adapted to be a forerunner in billing on Government platforms including, but not limited to the Crown Court billing platform and on CCMS.
FAQs
Is A Costs Lawyer A Lawyer?
A Costs Lawyer is a qualified and regulated legal professional who specialises in the law and practice of legal costs. A Costs Lawyer has attained rights of audience and rights to conduct costs litigation
What Does A Cost Lawyer Do?
A Costs Lawyer has the necessary skills and experience to draft bills of costs (standard and electronic), prepare and negotiate Costs Budgets, draft Points of Dispute and Reply, make offers and reach settlements without court process and arrange for Provisional / Detailed Assessment of a Bill of Costs where court process is required, undertake advocacy and general litigation.
What Tasks Do Costs Draftsman Or Costs Lawyers Perform?
A costs draftsman or costs lawyer will perform the following tasks;
- Drafts Bills and Schedules of Costs
- Assist with preparation of costs budgets
- Advises clients on the costs budgets prepared by the opposing party
- Draft points of dispute and replies of costs
- Acts as mediator in any cost disputes
- Prepares retainer and fee arrangements between clients and legal advisors
- Advises clients and legal professionals on disputes
What are legal costs?
Costs in law consist of;
- Costs payable between parties where an unsuccessful party pays the successful party’s costs
- Solicitor and own client costs which is the amount the client pays their solicitor
- Legal aid costs where a solicitor is representing a publicly funded client
What Is The Difference Between A Costs Draftsman And A Costs Lawyer?
A Costs Lawyer is a qualified and regulated legal professional who specialises in the law and practice of legal costs. A Costs Lawyer has attained rights of audience and rights to conduct costs litigation. A Law Costs Draftsman is an experienced and skilled professional who also specialises in the law and practice of legal costs. Law Costs Draftsmen have rights of audience when they have been engaged to appear at a private hearing to assist in the conduct of litigation and are instructed by a qualified litigator
Why Do Solicitors Need Costs Draftsman?
Solicitors need a Costs Draftsman as they will lack the knowledge, experience and time to prepare their own bills. Cost Draftsman will prepare a bill of costs and also help solicitors maximise their recovered legal costs, also providing expert advice and guidance
How Do I Complain About My Costs Draftsman?
To Complain about your Costs Draftsman or Costs Lawyer you should first raise it with their own complaints procedure as contained within the initial client care letter / terms and conditions sent, at which point they have 8 weeks to resolve your complaint. In the case of a complaint against a Costs Lawyer and If your complaint hasn’t been resolved in 8 weeks then you may refer it to the CLSB (for conduct complaints) or the Legal Ombudsman (for service complaints)
Our Clients
We offer an expert costs drafting service to both law firms and individual clients, providing guidance and advice for a variety of law costing issues.
Solicitors
As experienced Draftsman, we understand your needs and can provide the right information and advice to help you represent your clients and understand what legal costs can be recovered or paid. We can also provide advice on any specialist costs situation that might arise.
Individuals
We can provide a range of legal costs services such as helping you settle points of dispute within your solicitor’s bill and can offer you guidance throughout the whole process.
Testimonials
Howe + Co
‘Geoffrey and Antony have made a considerable difference to the firm’s profitability and efficiency as a result of their skill at budgeting, valuing our files and in settling costs at the conclusion of a case. They have rendered invaluable assistance with our larger and more complex cases, including some high profile defamation matters and they saved our clients a lot of money as a result. Their knowledge on costs matters is encyclopaedic, and their methodical and strategic approach has always been invaluable to our firm and to our clients. Geoffrey and Antony have always been very generous with their time and always willing to talk through difficult costs cases, including late into the evening or at weekends. I cannot recommend them highly enough. K.O’R – Howe + Co’
Prakash Patel
‘I am a Commercial Litigation Partner with over 35 years’ experience in this field. In the past I have instructed many costs draftsman and latterly I have been instructing Geoffrey Andrews exclusively in relation to my cost budgeting work and the preparation of bills of costs as well as preparing challenges to bills.
Geoffrey has considerable experience (over 30 years’) and I have always found his work to be reliable and very professional.
In addition to Geoffrey’s experience as costs draftsman, he has an ability to grasp and comprehend the core issues in complex litigation and that combined with his experience and his knowledge of general case law included in relation to costing matters has provided an ability to add substantial value when preparing costs budgets and dealing with budgeting generally.
This skill has also assisted greatly both with clients and counsel where his advice has assisted greatly to explain confusing and dry details of costs and possible outcomes. He does this in a clear and concise manner so that they are confident, and in the client’s case reassured in the process.
I have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending him as a specialist cost draftsman.’ PP – S.W
MIKE WARREN THB
Not sure how Ivan and his team manage it but they have revolutionised Legal Aid billing at our practice. Efficient, vastly experienced and always on hand with practical solutions to whatever problem may arise. Cannot recommend them highlyRead more “MIKE WARREN THB”
Melanie Krudy
It was such a relief to find IG Legal, headed up by Ivan Goodsell, to take on our Crown Court billing. IG Legal get a huge proportion of our claims paid in full within days of submission which not only has a positive effect on cashflow but has also reduces my previously far too frequent visits to the SCCO for which I am very grateful – well done Ivan and team I thoroughly recommendRead more “Melanie Krudy”
Why Choose our Firm
We are a team of professional and experienced Law Cost Draftsman that can provide a wide range of legal aid and legal costs services to help you recover legal costs and maximise your profits.
With our vast experience of having worked within the legal profession, we fully understand the pressures on law firms and fee earners to maximise their legal costs and we aim to work with our clients to introduce streamlined working practices and to offer feedback on areas in which they can improve.
We have experience of working on our client’s case management systems and are able to access the necessary information to bill from a paperless system. With the technology now available we are able to work with clients across England and the UK.
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Extensive years of experience
High Standard of professional service
Legal Aid Claims
We have vast experience in the legal profession and are an experienced legal aid provider and make use of an established system for bills of costs creation and submitting all aspects of legal aid costs. We are a forerunner on the CCMS system and the Crown Court billing platform and can provide detailed advice and guidance to ensure that it is used correctly and efficiently in regards to legal costs.
Our Cost Draftsman will work with you in all aspects of Civil Litigation billing to help you prepare a claim for costs, challenge an opponent solicitor’s bill of costs or providing guidance through the detailed assessment of costs process.
Let our experience be your guide
The wide range of legal services we offer and areas of billing that we cover enables us to fully understand any legal billing situation and to help our clients navigate their way through the complex billing process from a detailed assessment of costs to bills of costs creation.
Our view is that a good law costs draftsman should deliver efficiencies and increase profits, more than paying for themselves. That is what we do at IG Legal. Can you afford not to get in touch to see how we can help you recovery legal costs and help your business grow? Avoid delays and get it right the first time with IG Legal. Get in Touch now.