Rules of the Superior Courts (Costs), 2019

SI No. 584/2019

The Minister for Justice and Equality, Mr Charles Flanagan commenced the above Statutory Instrument on 3^rdDecember 2019.  Not only has this SI overhauled the Rules of the Superior Courts and in particular Order 99, it has also made sweeping changes to Appendix W in terms of the Bill of Costs format and scheduled items.

Formerly, the Bill of Costs was drawn pursuant to Order 99 and Appendix W in a seven-column format, which included a Solicitor’s General Instructions Fee, supported by a single detailed narrative or instruction statement.

In the interest of transparency, a Bill of Costs has now been divided into five sections. Each section has been broken down into a number of sub-sections as can be seen from the SI itself.

Each Section and sub-Section will be dealt with by a Legal Costs Adjudicator following an Oral Hearing unless previously settled between the parties.  This, along with the Legal Services Regulation Act is likely the most significant change to legal costs law since the Courts and Court Officers Act, 1995.