North’s court-fees hike ‘double hit’ for lawyers
Lawyers in the North have warned that plans to hike court fees will jeopardise access to justice for ordinary citizens.
The warning from the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers’ (APIL) came in a response to proposals from the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunal Service (NICTS) to increase court fees in civil claims by a total of around 9% over three years, starting in 2026.
After these rises, it proposes annual inflationary increases.
“Access to the justice system should not depend on whether you can afford to issue court proceedings or not, “said Sabrina Lawlor (APIL’s Northern Ireland representative).
‘Vital public service’
“Courts should be funded primarily through taxes, and people who need to use them could make an affordable contribution towards the service they use,” she stated.
Lawlor described the civil courts as “a vital public service” that benefitted all of society.
“Anyone can become a victim of a negligent employer or a reckless driver. People who suffer needless injuries must have access to the civil-justice system to get the redress they need to put their lives back on track,” she stated.
‘Scale fees’
In on the proposals, APIL said that it was also concerned that county-court ‘scale fees’ – the fixed amounts courts can order a losing party to pay the winning one for their legal expenses – had significantly lagged behind inflation.
“The failure to review scale costs has left many law firms chronically underfunded during a period of extraordinary inflationary pressure,” said Lawlor.
“Firms representing victims of negligence often have to pay the initial costs of pursuing a case, such as the court fees and medical expert fees, upfront,” she stated.
“The combination of inadequate scale costs and rising court fees has a significant impact on a firm’s ability to do this,” Lawlor said, describing it as “a double hit” on legal professionals and the vulnerable people they represented.