Legal Services Regulation Act 2015

• Permanent Page URL

PART 10

Legal Costs

Chapter 1

Interpretation

Interpretation (Part 10)

138. In this Part—

“application” means an application for adjudication of legal costs under section 154 ;

“bill of costs” means a document setting out the amount of legal costs chargeable to a client in respect of legal services provided to him or her, prepared by a legal practitioner in accordance with section 152 or, where applicable, section 154 (1);

“Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator” means the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator appointed under section 139 (2);

“commercially sensitive information” means—

(a) financial, commercial, scientific, technical or other information the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to result in a material financial loss or gain to the person to whom it relates, or could prejudice the competitive position of that person in the conduct of his or her business or otherwise in his or her occupation, or

(b) information the disclosure of which could prejudice the conduct or outcome of contractual or other negotiations of the person to whom it relates;

“contentious business” means legal services provided by a legal practitioner for the purposes of, or in contemplation of, proceedings before a court, tribunal or other body, the Personal Injuries Assessment Board or an arbitrator appointed under the Arbitration Act 2010 or in connection with an arbitration, mediation or conciliation;

“disbursement” means a fee or cost (whether or not fixed by or under a statute or rules of court) payable to a third party that is necessarily and reasonably incurred by a legal practitioner for the purposes of the provision by that legal practitioner of legal services to a client, and includes fees or costs payable by the legal practitioner to a barrister or an expert witness, but does not include general costs incurred in the course of the legal practitioner’s practice as a legal practitioner;

“enactment” means—

(a) an Act of the Oireachtas,

(b) a statute that was in force in Saorstát Éireann immediately before the date of the coming into operation of the Constitution and that continues in force by virtue of Article 50 of the Constitution, or

(c) an instrument made under—

(i) an Act of the Oireachtas, or

(ii) a statute referred to in paragraph (b);

“legal costs” means fees, charges, disbursements and other costs incurred or charged in relation to contentious or non-contentious business, and includes—

(a) the costs of or arising out of any cause or matter in any court,

(b) any costs which are the subject of an order made by an arbitral tribunal in accordance with section 21 (4) of the Arbitration Act 2010 for the adjudication of the costs of the arbitration by a Legal Costs Adjudicator,

(c) the costs of a receiver appointed in any cause or matter, on the application of the receiver or of any party to the cause or matter,

(d) costs that arise from an inquiry, investigation or other proceeding conducted under an enactment, and

(e) the cost of registering judgments as mortgages, of obtaining grants of probate and of letters of administration, of satisfying judgments, and any other costs usually adjudicated ex parte;

“Legal Costs Adjudicator” means a person appointed under section 139 (2) to be a Legal Costs Adjudicator;

“non-contentious business” means legal services that do not relate to contentious business;

“Office” means the Office of the Legal Costs Adjudicators referred to in section 139 ;

“register of determinations” means the register of determinations referred to in section 140 .