Barristers: Regulation will hike costs

The cost of hiring a lawyer will rise as a result of the Government’s plan for a new regulatory authority to govern legal services, according to the professional body for barristers.

Other measures in the Legal Services Regulation Bill will also lead to higher costs, according to the Bar Council.

Publishing what it calls a regulatory impact assessment, of the Legal Services Regulatory Authority, the Bar Council said it shows the proposed bill will lead to greater costs for practising lawyers, for the State, and for the general public, by creating a regulatory body whose size and scale far exceeds the original proposed oversight regulator.