I will have more on this over at Irishcorruption.com, but the allegations made on yesterday’s liveline were pretty damn serious. It gets coverage in today’s IT:
The Law Society is also establishing a complaints helpline and placing advertisements in the media urging people who were unfairly charged solicitors’ fees to come forward.
The move follows revelations that some solicitors had deducted substantial costs from Residential Institutions Redress Board (RIRB) awards. Some clients claimed they had been charged up to €10,000 in costs, while others said their solicitors had withheld up to 10 per cent of awards.
This was despite the fact that the redress board had promised to cover their legal costs.
Director general of the Law Society Ken Murphy said: “There is revulsion in the solicitors’ profession over this and a determination to root it out.” However, until this week the society had received just one complaint about the matter.