Sherrie Burrell is part of the 140-strong costs team at national law firm Irwin Mitchell. She is based in the firm’s Sheffield office and is coming to the end of her first year on the ACLT’s Costs Lawyer Professional Qualification. 

I guess you could describe my route into the law as non-traditional. I left school at 16 in the 1980s, with no formal qualifications. I later obtained an English GCSE at college. I toyed with an accountancy career and started a college course, as I have always been interested in numbers. Soon after I had my two sons which delayed continuing any form of education for several years. 

I was able to go back to college in my late twenties and completed a computing access programming course, which reignited my love of numbers and progressed from there onto a university programming undergraduate degree. Unfortunately, I got extremely ill and had to withdraw. However, all was not lost as I passed on what I had learnt at university to my sons, who both now have IT degrees. 

Later on, I completed an ICB bookkeeping course and really enjoyed it, so I knew my passion for numbers hadn’t diminished, but when I started at Irwin Mitchell 13 years ago I had no idea it would lead me to where I am now. 

I started out in an administrative role for the public law and human rights team and a few years later moved to the finance department. I was aware of the costs team in the firm, and I had some experience of preparing a bundle for a bill, but I didn’t really know what a Costs Lawyer was. The role was a bit of a mystery to me. 

As I had no ambitions to be a solicitor, I was intrigued when I saw an internal vacancy for a trainee costs draftsperson. I decided to put myself forward and used the opportunity to ask as many questions as I could to help me better understand the role. Fortunately, I was offered the role in the interview, which I immediately accepted. That was three years ago, and has been a perfect fit for me. I feel completely at home in this role.

After successfully completing the trainee period and requirements, and being encouraged by my managers, I attended an ACLT online seminar about their new course and that made up my mind. I wanted to learn more about the many and various costs processes and costs law to enable me to do my job to a high standard and with little supervision. 

Irwin Mitchell offered to sponsor me so this was a great incentive to go ahead and enrol. Even if they hadn’t, I had planned to go ahead as the ACLT offer flexible payments for self-funding students that can be split over the year, which would have been perfect for me if I had to self-fund the qualification. 

I am now coming to the end of year one of the two-year online course, and it has been a revelation in so many ways. Make no mistake, the course is no walk in the park. You must make a strong commitment to it if you are going to succeed, but the reward is worth it. One significant advantage has been that you can see how the learning cements itself from day one. The material I am learning is very relevant and immediately applicable in my day-to-day work.

Year one has focused on contract, tort, civil procedure and, professional standards and ethics. Every week there is a one-hour tutorial where I join around ten other trainees with our tutor to discuss a particular module. We are given the relevant subject material in advance via the course online portal and the expectation is that you devote at least three hours a week to self-study, although I do much more than that. In my spare time I collect judgments for future reference. Gordan Exall’s blog and Kings Chambers’ costs webinars have been particularly useful to my development. 

The tutorial groups bring together students with a mix of seniority and experience, including both claimant and defendant practitioners, so it really is good to look at things from other people’s viewpoint, particularly from the defendant's perspective, as my work is mainly for the claimant. 

The course tutors are helpful, knowledgeable, and approachable. They really encourage you to think for yourself through their insightful questioning which steers you to make the most of the tutorial and course content. Plus, whenever I have needed to contact ACLT they have been highly responsive. Irwin Mitchell has also been incredibly supportive, providing me with study/exam leave and flexibility of my workload to accommodate the course commitments ensuring I get the most of this opportunity to develop professionally. I feel very supported.

As part of the course so far, I attended two online seminars, which although intensive, really brought together all of my learning. The whole course has clearly been very well thought through to support the learner.

Thankfully, after attending a half day exam in Manchester, and submitting two assignments I am getting ready to move on to advocacy and will start the second year of the course this autumn. 

The work in costs law provides a great balance of calculations, assessment, advocacy, applicable law and the real life of a person being impacted by your work which I feel suits me perfectly. There’s always some new or novel aspect of case law that arises and it is challenging to keep on top of all that. I will never get bored in this role and there is so much scope for career progression. 

I would strongly advise anyone thinking about a career in the law to consider costs law. Not only will you be able to achieve a solid legal qualification, without the expense of university, but you will get to work on active cases, negotiate and advocate, and if the case proceeds all the way to a hearing you will have court exposure, something not all solicitors get. You will have the opportunity to work alongside solicitors and barristers on an equal footing in an expanding area of the law. 

I’ve noticed that Costs Lawyers tend to enjoy a better work life balance than their solicitor counterparts, but can still enjoy the same competitive earning potential according to their experience, so there are lots of upsides to a career in costs. 

Once qualified, I see there being no limit to what I can achieve. I will become a fully-fledged member of the ACL with a practicing certificate from the CLSB. I could go on to become a law firm partner and over time as I develop my practice, I may also consider becoming a costs judge. I hope that I will be a good example of how there is more than one route to becoming a successful lawyer. 

Added July 2024