Mathew Lawton

How long have you been working in costs?

I have been working in costs for over 20 years.

When did you join PIC?

I joined PIC in September 2003, which is where I started my costs career.

What work do you do?

I am a Costs Lawyer at PIC. My caseload focuses primarily on preparing Costs Budgets and Bills of Costs for Claimants in multi-track personal injury and clinical negligence matters.

I work on cases involving complex liability and quantum issues, as well as catastrophic, life-changing and fatal injuries. In addition to preparing Costs Budgets, I also deal with the different stages of costs management, including budget negotiations, budget variations and monitoring expenditure against budgeted allowances.

I am highly organised and focused on delivering work to the highest standard efficiently, which has helped me build and maintain strong client relationships throughout my costs career.

I qualified as a Costs Lawyer in 2015.

Some interesting cases

• AB v Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2019] EWHC 1889 (QB), which dealt with a pre-LASPO change of funding from Legal Aid to CFA and the recoverability of additional liabilities.
• Matthew Riley v Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust [2022] EWHC 2417 (KB), which proceeded to a quantum trial. The evidence of the Defendant’s orthopaedic expert was abandoned at trial, which led to justifying good reason for the Claimant to depart from an approved Costs Budget.
• Re-opened actions following Court of Appeal and Supreme Court decisions in Dunhill and Reaney.
• Numerous high-value, complex and long-running personal injury and clinical negligence cases involving cerebral palsy, brain injury, spinal cord injury, cauda equina, amputation and death.
• Several actions arising from the 2004 Tebay rail disaster, including fatal injuries and significant psychological injuries to rail workers.
• Multi-Claimant action with test cases arising from cosmetic procedures, Isolagen.

Additional personal details:

In my spare time, I enjoy keeping active and trying to maintain my status as an average runner and cyclist.

Click here to get in touch with Mathew.