Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 198:

In page 103, before line 1, to insert the following:

1. A Legal Costs Adjudicator shall apply the following principles in adjudicating on a bill of costs pursuant to an application pursuant to section 94:

(a) that the costs have been reasonably incurred, and
(b) that the costs are reasonable in amount.

2. In determining whether the costs are reasonable in amount a Legal Costs Adjudicator shall consider each of the following matters:

(a) the complexity of the legal work concerned;
(b) the difficulty and novelty of the issues involved in the legal work;
(c) the skill or specialised knowledge relevant to the matter which the legal practitioner has applied to the matter;
(d) the time and labour that the legal practitioner has reasonably expended on the matter;
(e) the importance of the matter to the client;
(f) the urgency of the matter to the client and whether this urgency requires or required the legal practitioner to give priority to that matter over other matters;
(g) the place and circumstances in which the matter was transacted;
(h) the number, importance and complexity of the documents that the legal practitioner was required to draft, prepare or examine;
(i) where money, property or an interest in property is involved, the amount of the money, or the value of the property or the interest in the property concerned;
(j) whether or not there is an agreement to limit the liability of the legal practitioner pursuant to section 44;
(k) whether or not the legal practitioner necessarily undertook research or investigative work and, if so, the timescale within which such work was required to be completed;
(l) the use and costs of expert witnesses or other expertise engaged by the legal practitioner and whether such costs were necessary and reasonable.”.