Whittakers Legal Costs is a specialist practice offering a comprehensive legal costs service for solicitors.
Whittakers Legal Costs is a specialist practice offering a comprehensive legal costs service for solicitors.
Whittakers is an independent costs law practice specialising in civil costs, providing effective costs drafting and recovery that you can rely on. Headed by Antony Whittaker, our practice encompasses the full range of costs representation:
Drafting both traditional and electronic Bills of Costs and Statements of Costs
Costs Budget preparation and attendance at Costs and Case Management hearings
Drafting Points of Dispute and Replies, negotiation
Advocacy at detailed assessment, CCMC other costs hearings
Whittakers provides a quality modern service, adapted to the current costs landscape and your needs, at good value.
As a costs practice, Whittakers operates differently to other firms, providing a better, more responsive service to you.
We bring years of experience and proven expertise to bear on every aspect of your case, routinely working with top-ranked Legal 500 firms in complex cases.
We provide our clients with a comprehensive personal service. This means that when you instruct Whittakers, you know that all the work undertaken in your case will be undertaken by an experienced Costs Lawyer, and not delegated to a junior fee earner.
You can visit this page for articles and posts we have written on salient issues in costs. Keep abreast of recent developments in relation to costs law and practice, with useful information and commentary.
We have been using Whittakers Legal Costs for over one year and will continue to instruct Whittakers for many years to come. I have nothing but praise for Antony Whittaker. He is approachable, friendly, proactive and focused on achieving excellent results. We are always kept up to date every step of the way, reminded of deadlines and a quick turnaround is provided from instruction. I have been impressed by the speed at which Antony is able to turn around bills and the fees that he achieves when negotiating on behalf of clients. Antony goes above and beyond by sending through case updates and decision that my impact our clients and cases he is working on. He is an expert at what he does and I would have no hesitation in recommending his services to others.
Really impressed with the service from Whittakers. Not only is there a fast turnaround time for Bills and Schedules of Costs, there is always a prompt and helpful reply to any question you may have. It’s so important in today’s testing times to have fast responses, accurate bills and proactive negotiation when it comes to dealing with costs. Whittakers delivers on this and I am very happy to recommend their service.
Whittakers Legal Costs have provided us with excellent costs support across a range of legal aid and inter partes issues. The advice is top notch and the service is reliable and responsive. I don’t think you can ask for more.
Whittakers Legal Costs has provided our personal injury team with legal costs support for a number of years. Antony’s approach has been to partner with our fee earners throughout the costs process, from bill drafting to negotiation and assessment. He also provides timely support on costs budgeting when required. This approach means he really understands our cases and can provide commercial and strategic advice as matters proceed. This is particularly important for our Serious and Catastrophic Injury cases. Antony’s input always adds value and we are able to recover his fees in addition to our own as part of the billing process. We are very happy with the service provided and I would not hesitate in recommending Whittakers to any law firm looking for a professional legal costs service.
We have been using Antony Whittaker for our costs drafting work and have been impressed by the detail in Bills that have been drafted, which have improved our firms profitability in terms of costs claimed and recovered. We also found Antony's assistance in negotiation to be of help in more complicated Bills and this has been an added bonus in our using of Antony’s services.
I can wholeheartedly recommend the services of Antony Whittaker of Whittakers Legal Costs.
If you are involved in a court action against you and you have to prepare an all-important Bill of Costs, or if you have been awarded costs following a court case and you now need to recover your costs from the other side, I strongly suggest you give Antony a ring. I also strongly suggest you give Antony a ring, if you have issues with your solicitor’s costs.
Antony is a costs specialist, who I was most fortunate to come across at a time when I was struggling to recover my costs and so was my solicitor. His pragmatic and entirely costs-focused approach combined with the right negotiation style, experience and knowledge about the world of costs, gets results. And what’s more Antony’s fees are significantly less, than that of a solicitor. I call this great value.
Antony is a consummate professional. I would most definitely call on Antony’s services again.
Antony was recommended to me by a couple of mutual connections. As a result of those glowing recommendations I instructed Antony to deal with recovery of our costs on a litigated Multi-Track personal injury matter. Antony was extremely efficient, kept me informed at every step, and achieved an excellent recovery. I was very pleased with both the service and the result achieved. I highly recommend Whittakers Legal Costs to any solicitor seeking the services of a very knowledgeable and effective Costs Lawyer.
Antony Whittaker, thank you for dealing with the Bill of Cost case in such a professional manner, This was a case which one of the top Costs Lawyers in UK had completely written off, saying that I will definitely lose, they gave me no chance of succeeding in all their 3 options on what they thought the outcome of the case would be, but when I approached your service you gave me hope, and a case that supposed to last three days was concluded within 3 hours. I was highly impressed by your skills and professionalism. I would have no hesitation in using your services again or recommending you to friends and acquaintances. Thanks.
Those instructed to prepare Bills of Costs and other costs pleadings have been traditionally referred to as costs draftsmen, and they operated in an unregulated industry until 2011, when a new regulator, the Costs Lawyer Standards Board, was authorised under the Legal Services Act 2007. This enabled those previously practising as costs draftsmen to become Costs Lawyers authorised to conduct reserved activities, including conducting litigation and the exercise of a right of audience.
A costs draftsman wishing to qualify as a Costs Lawyer must complete rigorous vocational and academic training, including three years of qualifying practice in costs, and is examined to determine that they meet the required standard. As opposed to a costs draftsman, a Costs Lawyer is subject to professional discipline, must hold sufficient professional indemnity insurance, and may be stripped of their Costs Lawyer status if they fail to meet their professional obligations. There are no restrictions on the use of the term costs draftsman and those doing so are under no obligation to have insurance.