Why choose Heathwells Legal Costs

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Choosing the right legal aid costs drafting partner is an important decision for any law firm.

At Heathwells Legal Costs, we have built our service around quality, consistency, and making life easier for the firms we work with. We are not a volume-driven costs provider. Instead, we work with a select number of firms to ensure that every matter receives the level of care and attention it deserves.

We specialise exclusively in legal aid costs drafting, with a particular focus on family and civil matters, including Court of Protection work.

This focused approach allows us to develop a deep understanding of the rules, processes and challenges involved in legal aid billing. It ensures that our work is not only accurate, but informed by experience.

We do not undertake criminal legal aid costs work. Our approach is to concentrate on the areas where we can deliver the highest level of service.

Every member of the Heathwells Legal Costs team has at least 10 years’ experience in legal aid costs drafting, including complex and high value matters.

We regularly work on high cost cases, including both HCCP and VHCC matters, and understand the level of detail and care these cases require.

Our clients rely on us for:

• Consistent, high-quality drafting 
• A careful and thorough approach to complex matters 
• Work that stands up to scrutiny 

We understand that time and internal resource are often stretched within legal aid firms.

Our processes have been built around reducing administrative time for our clients wherever possible. We aim to make working with us straightforward, efficient, and low-touch.

This includes:

• Clear and simple onboarding 
• Standard letters of instruction to streamline information gathering 
• Minimal back-and-forth once instructed 
• End-to-end handling of the drafting process 

Our role is to take ownership of the process, allowing your team to remain focused on fee earning rather than time spent managing the billing process.

We provide a reliable and consistent service, with clear expectations from the outset.

We aim to return the majority of cases within 14 days, depending on complexity and volume. Throughout the process, we maintain clear communication so that you always know where matters stand.

We offer a fully managed service, including uploading and processing cases through CCMS where required.

We can work in line with your firm’s preferred approach:

• At the prescribed hourly rate for the case      
• On a fixed-fee basis 

We can also deal with queries and challenges following submission, in line with your instructions.

We are used to working with a wide range of case management systems and internal processes.

This includes systems such as Partner for Windows, LEAP and ALB, as well as other platforms used across the legal sector.

We aim to integrate smoothly with your existing setup and can provide secure portal access for the transfer of files where required. 

While many costs firms focus purely on drafting, Heathwells Legal Costs has been built as part of a wider professional ecosystem designed to support lawyers more broadly.

As part of this:

• We are the owners of the Ladies of Law group, providing education, insight and networking opportunities within the legal sector 
• We offer access to Queensbury Financial Advisers, including discounted financial advice for individuals within firms we work with 

We see ourselves as a long-term partner to the firms we support, not just a drafting provider.

We limit the number of firms we work with to ensure we can maintain our standards.

This allows us to provide:

• A consistent and reliable service 
• Greater attention to detail 
• Stronger working relationships 

As a result, we often operate a waiting list for new instructions.

We work best with law firms who:

• Undertake family, civil or Court of Protection legal aid work 
• Value accuracy and consistency in billing 
• Want to reduce administrative time 
• Are looking for a reliable, long-term costs partner