Legal Cost Specialists

Association of Costs Lawyers membership

I note from the new edition of Costs Lawyer magazine that a total of 77 new people have applied for membership of the Association of Costs Lawyers. The majority of these are employed in costs firms, rather than being in-house law costs draftsmen. This is a very high number of new applicants and it makes me wonder why there should be this sudden influx at this particular point in time.

7 thoughts on “Association of Costs Lawyers membership”

  1. isnt the simple answer the fact that the ACL has done its advertising right and consequently attracted many students whom wish to benefit from the training membership offers?

    isnt this exactly what the whole idea was??

    as an ex-Council member, perhaps you should be rather less cynical Simon

  2. I wasn’t aware that the ACL had been undertaking any advertising in relation to the membership (although I’m happy to be corrected if I’m wrong on that).

    The Association has been achieving a significant amount of coverage in the legal press recently and that may have played its part.

    However, I raise the issue not because of any cynical motivation but because I am genuinely interested as to the reasons behind this. The concern as to whether non-Costs Lawyers had rights of audience has now disappeared and therefore that cannot be the reason behind the current boost in numbers.

    Of course, it may have been my previous high-profile appointment to the Council that was the tipping point for the Association… 😉

  3. I assume that since the costs industry is about to shrink significantly (assuming the fixed costs are extended as planned), many people are trying to gain the competitive advantage of being formally qualified.

    That’s also assuming that being formally qualified IS actually an advantage but I’d have thought it must be at least a little bit?

  4. I think its all the law graduates who couldn’t get a training contract or pupillage, who have entered the cost world wanting to tell their mum that they are now a cough (costs)lawyer. 🙂

  5. Anon2, whilst i’m sure this is the case for a minority of law graduates and paralegals, some of us who have joined the ACL this year have been working in costs for several years and are already qualified in other aspects of the law.

    Personally,I now feel it is time to benefit from the in depth training and knowledge that that the course offers and I am looking forward to undertaking the course over the next few years.

    Some of us do actually enjoy our jobs and wish to progress further!

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