Legal Costs Management

The State Claims Agency’s legal costs management objective is to manage third party claims for costs arising from all categories of claims taken against the State so that such claims for costs are contained at the lowest achievable level.

The Legal Costs Unit (LCU) was established within the State Claims Agency (SCA), initially to deal with third-party costs arising from certain Tribunals of Inquiry (the Mahon, Moriarty, Morris and Smithwick Tribunals). Its remit has since been extended to include third-party legal costs of the State and State authorities as delegated to it, however so incurred. This means that the LCU deals with third-party legal costs in relation to these State authorities, whether they arise in the course of the SCA’s own claims management work or in respect of other legal costs incurred by the State authority concerned. 

The level of legal costs paid to plaintiffs’ legal representatives is carefully examined and, wherever possible and by means of negotiations, the SCA seeks to achieve the maximum possible reduction in legal costs to be paid by the State. If the SCA cannot successfully agree the level of legal costs to be paid to plaintiffs’ legal representatives, the matter is determined by a Taxing Master, subject to a right of appeal to the High Court.