Paul Hawkins

Profile

I have over 25 years experience of drafting bills and conducting assessments in a wide range of cases including housing, planning, immigration, judicial review, family/childcare, personal injury, professional negligence, clinical negligence and Court of Protection. Over the years I have appeared at numerous hearings in the County Courts, the SCCO and the House of Lords / Supreme Court.

Most of my work involves cases funded by Legal Aid, which I believe is an essential function of a civilised society. I value accuracy, attention to detail and high standards of presentation, and I thoroughly enjoy the unique blend of law, mathematics and language required to be an effective draftsman.

My first role as a costs clerk in 1996 (for a Birmingham Legal Aid firm) involved resolving account balances and costs queries on concluded files. This instilled an enduring determination to pay attention to small details. I subsequently moved on to drafting bills and conducting assessments in housing, immigration, family and public law cases, and was ultimately promoted to Head of Costs.

I then spent 3 years drafting bills and negotiating costs at a Birmingham personal injury firm, dealing with a wide range of road traffic, employers liability, industrial accident and public liability cases, variously funded by legal expenses insurance, CFAs and trade unions.

In 2002 I started my own costs drafting firm, which traded successfully for 17 years and expanded to a team of 5. I took the opportunity to Cost Law Services Ltd in 2019.

I have worked on a very wide range of cases over the years, including several high-profile and high-value housing and travellers’ rights cases that reached the House of Lords / Supreme Court, including:

• South Buckinghamshire District Council v Porter


• Doherty v Birmingham City Council


• Ali & Tomlinson v Birmingham City Council


• SSEFRA v Meier


• Birmingham CC v Ali, Aweys & others

More recently, I have worked on various high-profile judicial review and unlawful detention leading cases.

I specialise in drafting Legal Aid High Cost Case Plans (non-family), Costs Budgets, New Format Electronic Bills and Inter Partes / Legal Aid mixed bills.

Education

• BTEC HND in Business Studies at Birmingham Polytechnic

Career

• See above

Interests

• Reading


• Music


• Watching and playing football


• Hillwalking


• Road and mountain biking


• Gardening


• Real ale


• Butterflies