Dr. Brian Doherty:

There is no one single piece of the Act that addresses legal costs in isolation but there are multiple streams within it that may have an impact upon legal costs. The Office of the Legal Costs Adjudicator is outside the scope of the Legal Services Regulatory Authority, LSRA, which is provided for under Part 10 of the Act, which has yet to be established. One of its tasks will be to maintain the register of determinations, which will be a public document and will assist in public information and comparative analysis of legal costs. We have a role to play in that also. One of the specific functions under section 13 is to promote and disseminate information to the public in respect of legal services, including the costs. There is a research function we will have to undertake to ensure the public are aware of the range of costs available. As the Deputy mentioned, the promotion of competition through legal partnerships and potentially multidisciplinary partnerships will be one other strand that may have an effect in bringing down the cost of legal services.