David Norris (Independent)

The House has a tradition of supporting independent regulation of the professions such as the press, medical, Garda and so on. We should examine the legal profession, particularly in light of recent reports about difficulties clients have had extracting detailed accounts of their bills from solicitors. Mr. Justice Hardiman has criticised the behaviour of the profession in this instance and has expressed surprise that costs do not appear to relate to the work done. Recourse is available to the taxing masters, both of whom are solicitors. A case was reported in an article by Carol Coulter in The Irish Times recently in which man was charged €13,500 for work done and to be done in the future with no supporting breakdown offered. He asked for a breakdown of fees but was just given the global figure. He had to pay the fees because the solicitors held documents, including mortgages on his house. He said he was provided with no indication of the time spent on the case, the rate per hour, the basis on which the fees were calculated, the sum for stamps and telephone calls——