As one of the country’s leading firms of Costs Lawyers and Law Costs Draftsmen, we are always looking to strengthen our team. We are now recruiting for our January 2013 intake of graduate trainees in our Amersham, Chesterfield, Ilkley, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Norwich offices.
The Firm
John M Hayes is one of the longest-established and leading firms of Costs Lawyers and Law Costs Draftsmen. We are a full-service costs firm that accepts instructions from both paying and receiving parties in cases which range from low-value family matters to multi-million pound commercial litigation claims. We deal with costs litigation in Courts up to and including the Supreme Court; and our broad client base is drawn from private practice solicitors and those employed in both the private and public sectors.
We have offices in Amersham, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Chesterfield, Haywards Heath, Ilkley, London, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne and Norwich.
The Role
The role of a Costs Draftsman is varied and involves:
- Preparing bills of costs
- Preparing interim schedules of costs and statements of costs for summary assessment
- Drafting Points of Dispute and Replies to Points of Dispute
- Settling Advices on complex and technical costs issues
- Drafting Interim applications within costs proceedings
- Appearing as advocates at detailed assessment hearings and interim applications within costs proceedings
- Appeals to Appellate Courts and the Legal Services Commission
- Providing in-house document drafting, consultancy and training services to firms of solicitors and barristers’ chambers
The largest part of a costs draftsman’s work is preparing bills of costs; however, at John M Hayes our draftsmen have the opportunity to develop their skills and experience in a wide variety of costs-related matters.
As a trainee you will initially be responsible for preparing claims for costs in low-value publicly-funded cases. Before too long you will be drafting bills of costs to be assessed by a Court and negotiating costs settlements; and, ultimately, you will be required to attend Court as an advocate at detailed assessment hearings.
This is a hands-on role in which you will be undertaking fee-earning work from your first day.
The Candidate
You must be educated to degree level, although your undergraduate degree need not be in law. A keen eye for detail and strong literacy and numeracy skills are essential. Advocacy experience – whether in a professional or educational capacity – is advantageous but not essential.
Salary
We offer a basic salary of £15,000 per annum. An uncapped monthly bonus that is related directly to your fee income is paid in addition.
Training
Your day-to-day training will be in the form of one-on-one assistance from and supervision by an experienced Costs Lawyer or Costs Draftsman. In addition, all trainees attend firm-wide training days during their training period.
All of our Costs Lawyers and Costs Draftsmen attend an annual company conference at which seminars and lectures are given by internal and external speakers; and all members of staff are encouraged to attend external training and networking events.
Recruitment Procedure
Please send your CV and a covering letter to the Regional Manager of the John M Hayes office at which you are interested in working. The contact details for each Regional Manager can be found below.
The closing date for applications is 25 November 2012. If your initial application is successful you will be invited to a half-day assessment centre in the week commencing 3 December 2012. Those applicants who score sufficiently highly at the assessment centre will be invited to an interview in the week commencing 10 December 2012.
The anticipated start date for our new trainees is 7 January 2013, although there may be some flexibility with this date.
Contact Details
[officetable type="managers"]
Please note that our Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff and Haywards Heath offices are not currently looking for trainees