Ben Wilson shares why he chose costs law as a career

Posted 13 February 2024

Benjamin is a Senior Associate at Kain Knight and regularly prepares detailed and complex advice, Bills of Costs, Points of Reply/Disputes, various costs pleadings and Costs Budgets, as well as advising on a wide array of costs issues, for commercial law firms, predominately based in the city of London. Benjamin became a Costs Lawyer of the Association of Costs Lawyers in May 2018 prior to which he had obtained an LLB in Law at Nottingham Law School and in this article, he tells us about his journey to becoming a costs lawyer.

Young students of 17 very rarely know exactly what it is they want to do for a career and so choosing a degree subject can be quite difficult. Ben says “When asked why I chose a career in law, I could talk about always wanting to be a lawyer, but at the age of 17, when choosing your degree, does anyone truly know what they want to be? I chose law at university because it differed from school subjects and felt like something that would be useful in older age. Oh how useful EU law turned out to be in the end!”

Ben adds “Like the majority of the legal sector, I have a law degree, which I obtained in 2014 after 3 years of hard studying (we all know that means 2 and a half years of fun and 6 months of intense study). In addition, I also obtained the Costs Lawyer qualification, which also necessitated a further 3 years of study during qualified employment. This might come as a surprise to many as, on paper, the post degree studying for a Costs Lawyer is greater than that of the LPC! Why become a Costs Lawyer then? That is a good question….”

Career Choices

“I am yet to meet anyone who grew up wanting to be a Costs Lawyer, mainly because no one would know what one is! When segments of the legal industry are unsure of the role, it is probably a stretch to expect a child to dream of being one. Hopefully this will change in time as there is a real need for the profession and the expertise and experience that many Costs Lawyers can bring to complex litigation is invaluable for everyone involved.”

Ben describes being a Costs Lawyer “as similar to being a Quantitative Surveyor, except the house is a piece of litigation and the builders are our solicitor clients. We can ensure a sufficient budget is set and approved by the court and then assist in ensuring the project remains on budget, which always keeps the lay client happy and assists recovery. Then, in the event of a win, we can recover the reasonable costs incurred in the litigation and, in the event of a loss, dispute the costs to a proportionate level. As well as the costs management and detailed assessment process, we also assist with Solicitor-Client disputes, on behalf of either party, which are becoming more commonplace as a result of the economic climate we find ourselves in. Ultimately, there is not a one size fits all approach to litigation and legal costs is no different.”

Early career advice

Ben chose to explore the role of a Costs Lawyer after attending a graduate fair, where someone explained alternative legal careers to him. In truth, being a Costs Lawyer was not mentioned but they did suggest alternatives to the LPC, training contract and bar routes. Ben says “I proceeded to search “alternative legal careers” on Google and after some searching, a Costs Draftsman/Costs Lawyer appeared and while this certainly wasn’t one of the suggestions at the graduate fair, it did sound intriguing. Not only did it seem like a great way of combining my A-level mathematics and law degree, but I thought, if it had not been advertised at the graduate fair then surely significantly fewer graduates would be approaching the leading Costs firms in London than applying for Training Contracts. It turned out I was correct.”

Ben was very fortunate to begin his career at another leading city costs firm following his graduation in 2014. After his first year of settling in and coming to terms with working every day for the rest of his life, he was enrolled in the Costs Lawyer qualification. Ben was relatively young to begin the course and the majority of people appeared to have chosen to work for a few years to learn the ropes before embarking on the qualification, however, Ben believes that naivety can sometimes be a good thing.  Ben was lucky to gain experience of some really complex and interesting cases from the outset of his career.  He explains  “I worked predominately on the Mirror Newspaper Hacking Litigation, and it quickly became the norm to work on multi-million-pound common costs claims with leading city firms and high-profile celebrity litigation that attracted widespread media attention. I worked on various iterations of the phone hacking litigation, as well as complex commercial litigation, for the 5 years I spent at my previous employer, and for my truly unique exposure and experiences, I am very grateful.”

Ben says “my advice to anyone who is interested in law, but also has an enjoyment of mathematics and a slightly obsessive attention to detail, is that you’d be stretched to find a more suitable career than costs law. There are so many legal career opportunities outside of being a Solicitor or Barrister and my advice would be to explore them as one might be more suitable and always believe in the value you bring to the table and don’t undersell yourself”.

Moving to Kain Knight

Nearly 10 years later, Ben is a Senior Associate in Kain Knight City, working out of the firm’s Chancery Lane office, where he works alongside Francis Kendall, Thomas Spanyol, Ben Chowdhury and Kelly Line. “Francis, Tom, Ben and I have worked together since 2014 at a previous employer, with Francis and Tom going back over 20 years, and once you add Kelly to that mix, who Francis had also known for some years before she joined in 2019, we are an incredibly close-knit team. Having a team, you know you can trust and have relied upon for many years is vital to our success.”

Ben has now transitioned away from media work and primarily focuses on high value and commercial litigation. He is regularly instructed to prepare detailed and complex advice, Bills of Costs, Points of Reply/Disputes, various costs pleadings and Costs Budgets, as well as advising on a wide array of costs issues, for firms predominately based in the city of London.

When asked to describe one of the more complex matters Ben has worked on at Kain Knight, he said “The team prepared bespoke High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court Electronic Bills of Costs, involving multiple currencies, totalling approx. £6,000,000. We also progressed the claim through the preparation of detailed Points of Reply, negotiations, quantum advice and a fully contested 3 week Detailed Assessment. Although we work on large projects as a team, we also conduct smaller cases ourselves. Following a successful defence at a Tribunal, I prepared a costs claim totalling, approx. £430,000. An initial offer of £180,000 was received, however, following the preparation of Replies and extensive negotiations, the claim settled for £385,000 (over twice as much of the initial offer) and included the recovery of interest and costs of assessment. These are just two examples of the vast array of work we attend to and our commerical instructions also lead to interesting and niche work outside of this jurisdiction.”

Career Influencers

We’ve all had individual that help to shape our career and for Ben there have been a few key individuals, but, in particular, Francis has remained a constant. He explains “In the summer of 2014, when leaving university, I was interviewed and offered the role by Francis, in his capacity as Partner of our previous employer. Fast forward to winter 2019 and I was speaking to Francis again about joining him for a second time, but this time at Kain Knight City. 2024 will therefore mark 10 years of working for Francis, in one capacity or another, and there is no doubt he has influenced my career and character.  As well as Francis, Tom Spanyol who joined us in 2019 was also previously a Partner in the commercial team I joined in 2014, so without a doubt, Tom has also influenced my career and it is great to all be working together once more.”

“In addition to Francis and Tom, the two Phils at my previous employer (Avis and Daval-Bowden) had a big influence on my foundations as a Costs Lawyer and they were brilliant individuals to learn and practice costs law under.” Outside of work, Ben likes to keep himself fit and healthy doing CrossFit and golf and he says “ if anyone ever fancies a CrossFit workout or a round then you know where I am!”