2025 Costs Conference (hybrid)

District Judge John Baldwin sits in the County Court at Liverpool and Birkenhead on a 4:1 ratio including sitting as a Regional Costs Judge, having sat as a Deputy on the Northern Circuit since 2011. Prior to his full-time appointment in May 2014 he practised from Oriel Chambers in Liverpool for 23 years, doing general common law work and latterly specialising in Personal Injury Litigation.

Sean Linley

Iain Thomas

Steven Turner has over 25 years’ experience handling costs cases for both Claimants and Defendants. He is recognised as a leading costs practitioner by both Chambers UK and The Legal 500, which describes him as: “Steven has an extremely sharp legal mind and a very pragmatic approach. He quickly gets to the nub of the issue and provides clear and concise advice. His advocacy skills are superb, and his easy-going manner is always appreciated by clients and solicitors alike.” Steven has extensive experience conducting detailed assessments and drafting Points of Dispute and Replies. He is highly skilled in navigating electronic bills, with practical, hands-on expertise. He has been instructed in numerous landmark costs cases, including Court of Appeal appearances in: British Airways Plc v Prosser,  Phillips v Willis  and Bird v Acorn Group .

Kerry Underwood is Senior Partner of Underwoods Solicitors and is the acknowledged expert on funding, costs, legal systems, client care, marketing and advertising of legal practices. Kerry has a particular interest in, if that is the right word, Part 36. He has written hundreds of articles on legal topics and is a regular contributor to Practical Law, New Law Journal and the Law Society’s Civil Justice Section Newsletter. Kerry appears regularly on radio and television and is frequently consulted by senior politicians and senior members of the Judiciary.

Ben Williams KC has a wide-ranging civil practice.  Ranked as a Star Individual in Chambers & Partners, and nominated as the Legal 500’s Commercial Litigation Silk of the Year for 2023, his reputation as an imaginative problem-solver has seen him instructed in many prominent cases across multiple fields of law, not just in his bedrock area of insurance-related litigation, but ranging from libel (recently acting for the successful appellant in Banks v Cadwalladr), to appeals on statutory interpretation (recently acting for the claimants in test cases on the effect of the Civil Liability Act 2018 on mixed injury claims), to the most recent decision of the Supreme Court on pure economic loss in tort (acting for the successful appellant in Armstead v Royal and Sun Alliance). Ben is particularly well known to many members of the Liverpool Law Society for his expertise in credit hire, costs, civil procedure and the regulation of the solicitors’ profession.  He has appeared in most of the leading cases in these areas, including last year acting for the successful solicitor appellant in the so-called “costs case of the decade”, Belsner v Cam.  Ben has strong personal links to the north-west, including many instructing solicitors in the area, and has appeared in the Liverpool Civil Courts more than 100 times.