Maurice Cheng—ACL

The Association of Costs Lawyers (ACL) has named Maurice Cheng as its first professional chief executive officer.

He will act as the focal point of the ACL’s campaign highlighting the importance of solicitors only using qualified and regulated costs specialists in the costs management era.

Maurice is currently part-time chief executive of the British Osteopathic Association, and has over 10 years’ board-level experience of leading change and transformation in professional bodies. He has served on the executive board of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, the Institute of Healthcare Management, and the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals. He has also been a strategy consultant to the Bar Standards Board and the General Optical Council.

Maurice will have wide-ranging responsibility for running and promoting the ACL, acting as its primary ambassador and growing its membership and revenues. His appointment is core to a programme of change the ACL Council has approved to modernise and professionalise the organisation, focusing on leadership, operations and external affairs.

ACL chairman Murray Heining says: “Maurice’s appointment marks the start of a new era for the ACL. Hitherto we have relied on Council members giving up their time to push the association forward, and outstanding though their contribution has been for many years, there is only so much that can be achieved this way. By having a dedicated CEO, particularly one with Maurice’s experience, I believe we will accelerate our work to ensure that costs lawyers are at the heart of the new legal landscape.”