Taxation of Barrister's fees

loremolis

Can a Barrister's fees be referred to the Taxing Master?

Tom Young

Yes.

loremolis

Tom Young wrote: »

Yes.

I've checked this part of the Courts.ie website and all I can find are details about how to tax a solicitor's costs.

http://www.courts.ie/offices.nsf/lookuppagelink/8AFDD6975A6F081380256E7B004D9971

How does one go about taxing a Barristers fee?

Tom Young

One goes about it by having a legal cost accountant assess the costs claimed and place the fees sought before the taxing master in precisely the same manner as one would if one was seeking to tax solicitors fees.

In the normal course the fees are charged in a composite manner, thereby meaning that they would travel together and X would be solicitor costs, Y be Barrister costs.

Unusual that you'd be taxing your own Barrister's fees - FYI.

loremolis

Tom Young wrote: »

One goes about it by having a legal cost accountant assess the costs claimed and place the fees sought before the taxing master in precisely the same manner as one would if one was seeking to tax solicitors fees.

In the normal course the fees are charged in a composite manner, thereby meaning that they would travel together and X would be solicitor costs, Y be Barrister costs.

Unusual that you'd be taxing your own Barrister's fees - FYI.

Thanks for the info.

FYI - The Barrister was dismissed from the case before it has concluded and has submitted a ridiculous bill and is unwilling to negotiate.

The only options are to pay the bill or send it to taxation.

Claw Hammer

loremolis wrote: »

Thanks for the info.

FYI - The Barrister was dismissed from the case before it has concluded and has submitted a ridiculous bill and is unwilling to negotiate.

The only options are to pay the bill or send it to taxation.

Fees in the Circuit Court are taxed by the County Registrar, not the Taxing Master. AN itemised bill has to be delivered by the solicitor before the costs can be taxed.

loremolis

Claw Hammer wrote: »

Fees in the Circuit Court are taxed by the County Registrar, not the Taxing Master. AN itemised bill has to be delivered by the solicitor before the costs can be taxed.

It's a High Court case. The Solicitor hasn't billed me yet and Barrister has not provided an itemised bill to the solicitor but he wants payment.

Claw Hammer

loremolis wrote: »

It's a High Court case. The Solicitor hasn't billed me yet and Barrister has not provided an itemised bill to the solicitor but he wants payment.

There is no obligation to pay him until a bill is delivered.

loremolis

Claw Hammer wrote: »

There is no obligation to pay him until a bill is delivered.

No obligation to pay who?

The Solicitor has received the Barristers but the solicitor hasn't billed me because the matter hasn't concluded.

The barrister is threatening to report the solicitor to the law society because the bill hasn't been paid. The reason it hasn't been paid is because it's ridiculous.

The solicitor is a good guy and I don't want him to have a complaint against to the law society.

Pro Hoc Vice

loremolis wrote: »

No obligation to pay who?

The Solicitor has received the Barristers but the solicitor hasn't billed me because the matter hasn't concluded.

The barrister is threatening to report the solicitor to the law society because the bill hasn't been paid. The reason it hasn't been paid is because it's ridiculous.

The solicitor is a good guy and I don't want him to have a complaint against to the law society.

The barrister is entitled to be paid for his work, if the client is not happy he is entitled to have that bill taxed. A legal bill can either be agreed or taxed or partially agreed and partially taxed. It's really as simple as fine let it go to taxation. I can not understand the issue. Person has done work, person is removed from case person wants to be paid, there is a system for bills that can not be agreed. Both parties take a risk with the costs of taxation.

Of course a fee note will have to be provided. Barristers do not usually itemise to a huge exten, but each piece of drafting and brief fees should be set out.

loremolis

Pro Hoc Vice wrote: »

The barrister is entitled to be paid for his work, if the client is not happy he is entitled to have that bill taxed. A legal bill can either be agreed or taxed or partially agreed and partially taxed. It's really as simple as fine let it go to taxation. I can not understand the issue. Person has done work, person is removed from case person wants to be paid, there is a system for bills that can not be agreed. Both parties take a risk with the costs of taxation.

Of course a fee note will have to be provided. Barristers do not usually itemise to a huge exten, but each piece of drafting and brief fees should be set out.

There is no issue. I agree with you. I was simply asking how a party can have its own counsel's fee taxed in circumstances where the instructing solicitor has not issued their own bill.

Pro Hoc Vice

loremolis wrote: »

There is no issue. I agree with you. I was simply asking how a party can have its own counsel's fee taxed in circumstances where the instructing solicitor has not issued their own bill.

Simply because the barrister is no longer engaged. If it could not happen there would be no way to sort out a barrister who has been dismissed. So as I said a client has 2 options pay bill or tax it. The barrister is no longer the clients barrister if he has been dismissed. A barrister may accept an undertaking from the solicitor to be paid at the end of the case but that's his option.

Claw Hammer

Pro Hoc Vice wrote: »

The barrister is entitled to be paid for his work, if the client is not happy he is entitled to have that bill taxed. A legal bill can either be agreed or taxed or partially agreed and partially taxed. It's really as simple as fine let it go to taxation. I can not understand the issue. Person has done work, person is removed from case person wants to be paid, there is a system for bills that can not be agreed. Both parties take a risk with the costs of taxation.

Of course a fee note will have to be provided. Barristers do not usually itemise to a huge exten, but each piece of drafting and brief fees should be set out.

The barristers fees are an item of disbursement of the solicitor. A bill can only be taxed when delivered by a solicitor. It would be wasteful for a solicitor to deliver a bill for counsel's fees only. A ,ot of the solicitors work would have to be checked to determine the complexity of the case. The solicitor seems to have engaged an incompetent barrister who, in addition to not being able to to the case doesn't know anything about costs either. The Law Society will not take a complaint seriously.

Pro Hoc Vice

Claw Hammer wrote: »

The barristers fees are an item of disbursement of the solicitor. A bill can only be taxed when delivered by a solicitor. It would be wasteful for a solicitor to deliver a bill for counsel's fees only. A ,ot of the solicitors work would have to be checked to determine the complexity of the case. The solicitor seems to have engaged an incompetent barrister who, in addition to not being able to to the case doesn't know anything about costs either. The Law Society will not take a complaint seriously.

The barristers has been dismissed from the case and any fee in litigation can be taxed as a stand alone fee, I have seen bills agreed and experts fees taxed. It is simply a matter for the solicitor to send the bill off for taxation.

Claw Hammer

Pro Hoc Vice wrote: »

The barristers has been dismissed from the case and any fee in litigation can be taxed as a stand alone fee, I have seen bills agreed and experts fees taxed. It is simply a matter for the solicitor to send the bill off for taxation.

It is one thing to tax elements of a bill of costs after the case is over. It is clear whether or not a third party will be paying, how how relevant the work was to the ultimate conduct of the trial, how much the award or settlement was and various other factors. It appears that this case has not yet got to trial so will have to be taxed on a solicitor client basis. This may well prejudice recovery from a third party in future.