Lawyers’ High Court bills slashed by a third
THE body which decides on disputes over High Court legal bills cut more than a third of the fees sought by lawyers in the past three years.
Figures obtained by the Irish Independent reveal the Office of the Taxing Master slashed more than €18.1m from bills where there was a disagreement over the amount to be paid. On average there was a deduction of €6,185 per case.
According to the Law Society, which represents solicitors, the vast majority of matters before the Taxing Master related to “party and party costs”. These are the reasonably incurred costs which one party, usually the winning side in a case, can recover from the other.
The release of the figures comes after long-awaited legal cost reforms kicked in last week. These include more consumer-friendly legal cost transparency requirements for legal practitioners, while new complaints against lawyers, are now being handled by the independent Legal Service Regulatory Authority (LSRA).
The Office of the Taxing Master is also being replaced by a new Office of Legal Costs Adjudicators, which will have a public register of its decisions
The figures show taxing masters dealt with 2,939 cases from 2016-18 where the overall amount sought was almost €49.4m. Deductions totalling €18.1m were made.
Taxing masters dealt with 1,092 cases last year. The overall amount claimed was €27.1m, but €9.5m was deducted. Some 1,032 cases were decided in 2017 where bills amounting to €9.9m were reduced by more than €3.7m.
In 2016, there were 815 cases where fees totalling €12.3m had been claimed. Some €4.9m was deducted.
“The taxing masters ensure that costs are reasonable and a reduction in legal costs in litigation has been widespread over the period in question,” the Law Society said.
Under the new regime, the practitioner who issued the bill of costs can be penalised if the amount sought turns out to be 15pc more than the figure ultimately determined by a legal costs adjudicator.
The rate of deduction revealed by the latest figures was slightly less than the preceding three-year period between 2013 and 2015 which saw cuts averaging 39.6pc.
The Law Society received 94 complaints alleging overcharging in the year between July 2017 and June 2018, and 95 and 80 complaints in 2016/17 and 2015/16 respectively. Most related to litigation, matrimonial, probate and conveyancing matters. It did not have a breakdown of the outcome of complaints.
The LSRA began accepting complaints last Monday, but the Law Society will continue to deal with complaints against solicitors it received before that. LSRA CEO Brian Doherty told the Irish Independent there would be an emphasis on seeking to facilitate informal resolution of complaints alleging inadequate service or excessive costs. He also said the LSRA would be able to intervene and make directions at an earlier stage than has been the case.
The release of figures comes after new legal cost reforms kicked in