Spotlight on: Graeme Wilson, Costs Specialist
Graeme Wilson joined Kain Knight in 2019 and is an experienced costs specialist working predominantly in the field of commercial costs. Graeme also has extensive experience and still maintains a practice in injury and clinical negligence costs work, and with over 15 years in the legal profession, working as both a litigator and costs specialist at a variety of different law firms, Graeme is a valuable asset to the Kain Knight team.
Graeme spent the first part of his career as a Defendant litigator, involved in a Defendant Credit Hire Team at the forefront of Credit Hire Litigation. His career then took him to several leading Defendant Law firms working as a Defendant litigator conducting Employers’ Liability and Public Liability cases on behalf of large insurers or self-insured companies and later to acting on behalf of local authorities. During one particularly successful year, Graeme defended 16 cases successfully at trial including winning two appeals. It was around this time, that he also developed a keen interest in costs. “I met a highly regarded costs lawyer who later became a mentor for a number of years, I started to learn more about costs, became involved in it and as they say, one thing led to another.”
Graeme’s various roles in both litigation and costs have taken him around the country, but he now lives in Cheshire with his wife, 3 children, 2 springer spaniels and a small flock of chickens. “The flexibility that I have working at Kain Knight means I’m able to enjoy a good and challenging career but still be around regularly for my growing boys, whether that’s school runs, sport matches or just kicking a ball around in the garden – the boys love that and so do I, and it’s a great break away from my screen.”
Graeme has gained specific expertise in Group Litigation and Cross Border matters, notably, he has experience in some niche Tax Group litigation. Beyond that, he has also been instructed to assist and advise on applications to the OFSI (Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation), and instructed in connection with well reported Director Disqualification proceedings, among many others. Graeme is regularly instructed in a wide range of commercial matters by city and international firms.
Graeme also has a number of years’ experience in personal injury and clinical negligence costs and when asked to recount a particular case recalls a Clinical Negligence Group litigation case arising from claims against a disgraced gynaecologist. “The Litigation team who dealt with it were outstanding, and I count the firm as one of my longest standing Clients. As for the costs aspects of this group litigation, this went on for around 8 years in one form or another, and amounted to several million pounds in total. I was involved in the early stages of managing costs and it was great to be instructed a few years later to help the client bring the final generic bill to a successful conclusion. This was hard fought, with our opponents instructing Leading Counsel to settle PODS but ultimately, we were able to secure an additional recovery of over £1m and bring the case to a close.”
“One of the changes that I count as the biggest developments in costs during my career has to be the implementation of costs budgeting. It was the first major development I witnessed which is probably why it stands out and it will certainly be interesting to see how this much debated process develops in the future”.
