Legal Costs Draftsperson Employment Contract UK

Responsibilities reflected in the contract

• Prepare bills schedules and costs documents.
• Analyse time disbursement and funding records.
• Manage assessment deadlines and procedural steps.
• Support negotiations within authority.
• Maintain calculations versions and outcome evidence.

A realistic working scenario

While drafting a bill, the costs draftsperson finds that a disbursement invoice does not match the ledger and several time entries lack a usable narrative. They raise a query schedule, preserve the original entries and obtain fee-earner or finance clarification before including the amounts.

Outputs to agree

• accurate bills and costs schedules
• clear query lists for missing or inconsistent evidence
• well-organised supporting papers for review or assessment

Records and evidence

• Time ledger and narrative source.
• Disbursement invoices and payment evidence.
• Funding, retainer and costs-order documents.
• Draft, review and approved bill versions.
• Client files.
• Attendance notes.

Reporting relationship

Typically reports to Supervising Solicitor, Practice Manager, Legal Director or Head of Department. Confirm the employer's actual reporting structure in the builder.

Authority and escalation

• The draftsperson may classify and present supported costs within instructions. Writing off time, changing source entries, resolving a legal entitlement issue or approving the final bill requires the authorised fee earner or costs supervisor.
• Obtain approval before committing expenditure, changing contractual commitments or making regulated or staffing decisions outside the assigned role.

Tools and systems

• Case management systems.
• Document management systems.
• Secure email.
• Legal research tools.
• Deadline or diary systems.

Workplace context

• Legal office, client meeting rooms, court or tribunal locations where required and secure administration spaces.

Contract priorities

• matter and client confidentiality
• accuracy of source-to-bill evidence
• review and filing deadlines
• independence when querying unsupported entries

Information the employer should prepare

• the case types courts and funding models
• the drafting negotiation and advocacy scope
• the costs software and file access
• the supervision signing and settlement authority
• the billing target and deadline arrangements