The subject of legal costs has been a matter of public debate for some years now, and a number of initiatives have been taken aimed at reducing them.
These include the setting up of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board to deal with personal injuries where liability is not contested, a new regime governing legal fees in tribunals, and, most recently, a report from a working group on legal costs under the chairmanship of former secretary general of the Department of Enterprise and Employment Paul Haran published yesterday.
This group included representatives of Ibec, the Consumers Association, Ictu and various Government departments. Interestingly, it had no representative from either the Law Society or the Bar Council, though it did include a senior counsel.
The report has proposed measures to end some of the practices that have, in its view, contributed to the growth in legal costs, which have risen faster than inflation in recent years. These include the practice of solicitors charging global instruction fees, irrespective of whether or nor the case ever gets to court, and the convention that junior counsel automatically earn two-thirds of the fees of the senior counsel in a case.
The existence of High Court taxing masters, empowered to set fees where they are disputed, has not served to make the system more transparent, and the report recommends the abolition of this office and its replacement by a new regulatory body to lay down guidelines for fees. If such a body is to work, it must be adequately resourced.
The report also recommends a number of procedural changes to ensure that cases are processed efficiently and quickly. These will require more judges and other resources. Significantly, the working group did not recommend the ending of the "no foal, no fee" system. The group acknowledged that this allows the rights of those who otherwise could not afford to go to court to be vindicated. However, this system is not enough to ensure that all who may need access to the courts can obtain it. There are many - such as victims of unfair dismissal and those involved in property or other disputes with third parties - who are not eligible for our limited civil legal aid scheme and who do not fit the criteria for "no foal, no fee" treatment.
While lawyers are the whipping boys of the moment and legal costs are an undisputed problem, the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, is a senior counsel and it is he, not Mr Haran, who must evaluate whether this group's proposals will reduce costs or increase them at the end of the day.