Resolving Attorney-Client Disputes

Avoid a Courtroom Drama

Irish Times
October 10, 2011

Instead of paying someone to fight your battles, why not go to mediation? Government officials in Ireland are asking these questions and thinking profoundly about the benefits of mediation as they draft the long awaited Legal Services Bill. This bill will create an independent conflict resolution mechanism to resolve disputes between individuals and their attorneys over disputed bills and the basis for the charges.

The new mechanism will also set up a body to hear complaints—replacing the existing disciplinary committees run by the Bar Council and Law Society in Ireland. Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said, “It is a good day for the consumer and the legal profession. Restrictive practices which inhibit the delivery of legal services are being removed through new business models and anachronistic and unnecessary restrictions derived from regulatory rules which permeate the legal profession are outlawed.”

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