- Maximising & Defending Legal Costs - Compliance & Recovery - A Practical Guide for Irish Solicitors - Legal Services Regulation Act 2015

This one-day training course provides a practical overview of Solicitors costs in Ireland under the modern legal cost’s regime. The course will equip practitioners with a clear understanding of their statutory obligations, billing entitlements and strategic options from initial client engagement through to recovery and adjudication of costs. With a strong focus on recent developments in costs jurisprudence, adjudication practice, and regulatory oversight, the course combines legal analysis with practical guidance to assist solicitors in maximising recoverable costs, managing risk and ensuring full compliance with the Legal Services Act 2025.

After this one-day course, you will leave with improved skills and knowledge regarding legal costs from a solicitor’s perspective, including party costs, fixed recoverable costs, barrister, and expert fees, as well as client billing updates. You will also receive the full course pack to refer to notes after the course and refresher topics as you need them.

Topics

The Legal Costs Framework in Ireland

• Overview of the legal services Act 2015 – where we are now
• Objectives of the new cost’s regime: transparency, predictability and consumer protection
• Interaction between courts, the LSR and practitioners

Defining Legal Costs – What can be charged?

• Professional fees vs outlays vs third-party expenses
• What exactly can be billed – practical examples
• Recoverable vs non-recoverable items
• Expert witnesses: fees, justification and common challenges
• Counsel’s fees:
• Certificates for counsels
• Senior vs junior counsel
• Negotiation and settlement attendance fees
• What adjudicators currently accept as “standard"

Section 150 & Section 151 Notices – Compliance and Consequences

• Mandatory requirements for section 150 Notices
• Timing, content, and best practice drafting
• Updates on Section 152 Notices and their growing Importance
• Effect of non-compliance on:
  
  • Recoverability of solicitor-client costs
  • Party and party costs
  • Recent adjudication trends and jurisprudence

Solicitor and Own Client Costs

• Best practice billing structures
• Fee estimates, revisions, and client engagement
• Managing client expectations and disputes
• Maximising recoverable costs while remaining compliant
• Practical examples from contentious litigation

Party and Party costs – A practical Deep Dive

• Party and party vs solicitor and client costs – clear distinctions
• Measuring costs in: Personal Injury claims / Medical Negligence claims
• Defence costs, including claims against the Health Service Executive
• Costs against public bodies and statutory defendants
• Costs in Wardship and wards of court
• Expert witnesses and complex counsel fee issues
• Common reductions and how to avoid them

Legal Costs Adjudication process (LSRA)

• Step-by-step guide to the adjudication process
• Jurisprudence shaping current determinations
• Tenders and their tactical use
• Applications for payment of costs on account – Practice Direction 71 explained
• Timelines, documentation and practical pitfalls

Bill of Costs

• How to structure a defensible Bill of Costs
• Key items adjudicators scrutinise
• Time, entries, narrative detail, and proportionality
• Practical drafting examples

Time Recording, Outlays & Firm management

• Importance of contemporaneous time records
• Recording outlays and external fees properly
• Technology and systems to support defensible billing
• Audit-ready cost files

Third-party Litigation Funding, CFA & SCA

• Maintenance and champerty – current legal position
• Third-party funding: costs implications
• Costs exposure under CFAs and SCAs
• Strategic considerations in funded litigation

Mediation of Legal Costs

• Costs mediation through the LSRA – how it works in practice
• When mediation is appropriate
• Tactical advantages and limitations
• Preparing effectively for costs mediation

Practical Strategies & Maximising Costs Ethically

• Maximising recoverable costs across your practice
• Avoiding common adjudication reductions
• Dealing with disputed expert and counsel fees
• Managing defence-side costs exposure
• Lessons from recent determinations

Who Should Attend?

This course is aimed at those in the legal professions, solicitors, barristers, consultants, cost experts. Those in government and semi state bodies who wish to enhance their current knowledge and skills in legal costs.

Certification

On completion of this one-day training course, you will receive your Certificate of Attendance. Please note certificates are issued at the close of the training course to participants on completion of the course.

This course may qualify for CPD points. Please check directly with your association or awarding body to see how many points they will award.

Cost

An ‘Early Bird’ discounted rate of €545 is currently available. This training course normal rate is €645. Places are limited and are allocated on a first come first served basis. PLEASE NOTE THE EARLY BIRD RATE CLOSES 3 WEEKS PRIOR TO COURSE DATE.

The course cost includes all course documentation and Certificate of Attendance.