21/10/2020. The move to Level 5 of the Framework for living with Covid-19 and the appropriate restrictions which come into effect from midnight on Wednesday 21st October 2020 for a projected period of 6 weeks, will have an effect on the conduct of business within the Office of the Legal Costs Adjudicators.
The overarching responsibility to protect staff and users of the Office alike, is paramount.
The Office will be closed to members of the public, save by prior appointment and then only for the conduct of urgent business.
Telephones will operate as normal during office hours, email, post and Dx facilities will likewise operate as normal. Email, correspondence and telephone inquiries will continue to be dealt with along normal lines.
Drop Box facilities will be available in Merchants House, to facilitate submission of documents, to the side of the main reception desk.
The e-filing platform for the lodgment of Applications for Adjudication will continue to operate as normal through CSOL for registered users.
The remote call over, which is held each Thursday at 9.30am, will continue to take place. This will call over cases listed for the following week. Any applications concerning matters listed for the following week will be dealt with. Dial in details will be made available to parties on request
In those cases, which may be suitable for a remote hearing, the parties will be offered a remote hearing, where, and only where, the parties are legally represented.
The Legal Costs Adjudicator having seisin of the matter, shall have sole discretion to determine the suitability of cases for remote hearing and the right to terminate such hearings in the event that the process cannot be undertaken fairly or may have the potential to impede due process or the application of the provisions of the Legal Services Regulation Act, 2015.
The Legal Costs Adjudicator concerned will issue the appropriate directions to the parties, which can only be decided on a case by case basis, having heard submissions from the parties.
Parties and their legal representatives are asked to closely monitor the Legal Diary and the Courts Service website for greater detail concerning all lists.
Paul M Behan
Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator
Office of the Legal Costs Adjudicators
The High Court
Merchants House
27/30 Merchants Quay
Dublin 8