Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

The Deputy may have missed hearing me say that an important element of the new reform is that the legal costs adjudication office will have to maintain a record of decisions delivered by it and that they will be published. In the context of the way the legislation is drafted, I hope there will be a facility, for example, for those decisions to be on a website.

In the context of the family law area, while the anonymity of estranged spouses in a family dispute, for example, or the names of their children will be preserved because of the in camera rule, if there is a dispute over legal costs in a family law matter it will be adjudicated upon and the outcome of the adjudication can be published while preserving the privacy of the individuals concerned. The lawyers will not have anonymity in the context of publication. The anonymity applies to the parties, that is, the husband, the wife or the cohabitees in a family dispute or, if it involved an adoption issue, the adopters and perhaps the biological parent but the anonymity will not apply to the law firm under the provisions of the Bill. The fact that these decisions will be published, whether we are dealing with family litigation, civil litigation or any other litigation, will also act as a spotlight on costs that are charged.

As I mentioned in my initial response, where a complaint of excessive charging is adjudicated upon it is an issue that can fall within the context of misconduct as it arises under the Bill, which may result in that matter being dealt with from a disciplinary perspective. There is a range of what I would describe as connected reforms which should not only shed a spotlight in this area but disincentivise persons who overcharge. In fairness to members of the legal profession, not every allegation of overcharging against members of the legal profession is true. Some are true but some are not.

See this speech in context