Legal Cost Accountant

chops018

Anybody on here a Legal Cost Accountant.

How does a trainee be trained, do they have to do the normal accountancy exams or is it different?

Salary expectations for a trainee and then when qualified?

Would it just be preparing solicitor accounts that are disputed for the Taxing Master?

Any info appreciated.

chops018

Just bumping this as I would really like to know how they qualify - no joy researching same through google.

Pat Mustard

I could be wrong but I believe that they tend to have legal or accountancy qualifications and then get training on the job, join the Institute of Legal Costs Accountants, and do exams with said institute.

Maybe you could ring the ILCA and see if they could give you more info. http://ilca.ie/

chops018

Cheers Mustard.

Yeah I saw all that.

Just wondering if it's a good route to go down if you're finding trouble getting a Solicitor traineeship?

gmf1024

The term accountancy is actually a misnomer. You do need a head for figures but no more than in the ordinary course of events. Good English is more of a prerequisite along with an ability to write. It involves reading yourself into files, extracting salient points and doing a qualitative analysis of the work involved including noting any special challenges faced by the solicitor. Ultimately it involves placing a financial value on the work done. There is an element of guess work especially concerning novel cases. Despite the job title. it is mainly a matter of law and you will be expected to argue persuasively before the Taxing Master. A taxation is just like a court case using precedents, case law and stats which are descriptors of figures achieved in similar cases. It is a very narrow area and requires specialist knowledge and so Legal Costs Accountants tend to know each other. Training is done on the job - there was talk a few years ago of exams etc to standardize matters but it doesn't appear that this has come to pass. Generally a degree, or at minimum, a diploma depending on experience, is looked for. Once you join a firm, they will pay your membership to the ILCA. Legal Costs Accountants were also very much hit by the recession as a fall out from solicitors suffering and there were a number of redundancies with some going free lance. The days of making serious money has deteriorated immensely. It is a good way to get a handle on the law and case procedure. I have been out of this for years but I hope this helps. I don't know salary ranges as this is kept quiet and there is a certain amount of competition between firms.

chops018

Thanks for the response.

Well my main is aim to qualify as a Solicitor. I only completed the FE1's last March and finding it difficult to get a traineeship, figured that since I have 5 years to get a traineeship from when you pass your last exam then I should look into other areas for the time being that would make me more appealing to firms while applying.

Assumed this had a qualification, and, if you get stuck into full files you would know the process inside out in certain parts of law after a while at it. Maybe there is no point in pursuing it so as the guy I interviewed with told me he is not looking for someone who will head off into a traineeship in a year. He wants to train someone and keep them 3-5 years. So it wouldn't be nice to accept it if offered.

At present I'm in banking law, and currently undertaking the QFA's. But I'm not sure how employable that would make me to firms for a traineeship? I took the banking position as it was still related to law in the department I'm in and I thought it might lead me to connections with the firms they use. Alas' the firms cannot hire anyone from ourselves. So it had the opposite effect.

Just feeling completely headless at the moment after studying so long for something and it doesn't seem to be materialising. And not for want of hard work, I wouldn't mind if I was sitting on my bum but I have worked flat out in trying to get my foot in the door.