Tom Brady

Security Editor

THE cost of taking an action in the civil courts is set to fall following a reform of legal fees.

Radical measures to bring down the exorbitant level of legal fees and costs have been accepted by Justice Minister Michael McDowell and will be implemented.

The changes will make it easier for clients to "shop around" when appointing a legal team and give them some idea of the costs involved before going into the court rather than after an action.

The new measures will also force lawyers to provide a breakdown of the fees being charged by both solicitors and barristers.

All fees must be itemised and it must be clear to the clients what they are being charged, why and the basis for the charges.

Mr McDowell said last night the changes would deliver "value for money" and he called on the legal profession to embrace reform now.

The measures are contained in the report of the Legal Costs Working Group, chaired by the former secretary general of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Paul Haran.

The report, which is being formally published today, was finalised last year and then brought before the Government by Mr McDowell for approval.

Last night the minister announced that accountant and businessman, Desmond Miller was to chair an implementation advisory group to oversee the changes.

Mr McDowell said he had two goals:

• To give the client the information needed to make informed choices.

• To transform the way in which legal costs were determined and, where legal costs were disputed, how they were to be assessed.

The Haran report recommends the abolition of the existing Taxing Masters, who examine costs in the High Court, with a regulatory body which will draw up guidelines on costs, based on an assessment of the amount of work reasonably required to be done.

This body will be backed up by a written process carried out by a costs assessment office where bills are disputed and an oral appeal conducted by an appeals adjudicator.

It recommends that costs guidelines should be based on an assessment of work done only and will not include "work agreed to be done but not done".

Accepted practices such as fixing a junior counsel's fee at two thirds of the senior counsel fee, irrespective of the amount of work involved, will be scrapped.

Mr McDowell said it was vital that clients were kept fully informed on the costs implications of their cases and this information be provided at critical stages to help the clients make crucial decisions.

Clients should also be given ample opportunity at all stages to end proceedings and prevent a further escalation in costs.

The Haran report does not recommend any departure from the existing "no foal, no fee" system, which is often used in civil cases.

The report says this system provides an opportunity for persons of modest means to engage a solicitor to vindicate their rights.

"This system has served us well and compares favourably with that in the neighbouring jurisdiction," Mr McDowell said.

A statutory obligation will be put on solicitors to negotiate and agree fees of barristers and experts in the interests of the client.

Mr McDowell said many people felt that access to the courts had become prohibitively expensive.

Simple Circuit Court actions were thought to be beyond the capacity of many reasonably well-off people.

In many cases the legal costs became another catastrophe for families in crisis.

"There is a widespread perception that the present system is one in which lawyers determine their own income by rules which lawyers interpret and apply, and with little public interest input."