Proposals to cap legal fees worthy of consideration, says Chief Justice

In an interview with the Irish Independent, Chief Justice Frank Clarke said that the cost of going to court was a barrier to justice and that some people were caught in a “poverty trap” in that they were unable to fund litigation yet earned too much to attract civil legal aid.

He is the second senior judge the advocate a cap on civil legal fees, with the idea having been suggested by President of the High Court Peter Kelly earlier this year.

Mr Justice Clarke said: “I think the cost of going to court is a barrier to justice. We have to look at all possible ways of solving that problem.

“And that may well be one element of the solution.”

The cap would see a judge determining at the beginning of a trial that the case should take a certain number of days and that costs would not be allowed to exceed a threshold.

He also said that eligibility criteria for civil legal aid needed to be reformed. Currently, in order to qualify a person needs an annual disposable income of less than €18,000 as well as disposable assets of less than €100,000.

“You can be on a modest income and be over the threshold,” said Mr Justice Clarke. “So it should be higher.

“There are people who are by no means comfortably off who are just above the threshold.”

He added that he thought, with the Government’s improving finances, there is potential to look at raising the threshold and expanding the remit of civil legal aid to additional areas of the law.