New parameters for legal fees

On October 8, 2022, Ministerial Decree no. 147 of August 13, 2022, amending Ministerial Decree no. 55 of March 10, 2014 regulating the determination of parameters for the payment of legal fees, was published in the Official Gazette.

The review of Ministerial Decree no. 55/2014, as implemented by the Ministry of Justice, is not limited to updating the so-called "legal chart of forensic parameters," but also introduced significant innovations in several respects.

With regard to civil matters, the most relevant innovations are listed below:

• general 5% increase in the values of the legal chart of forensic parameters.
• introduction of charging on an hourly basis; when agreed upon, hourly rate can vary from a minimum of Euro 200.00 to a maximum of Euro 500.00 for each hour or fraction of an hour exceeding thirty minutes.

• out-of-court and judicial settlements are encouraged. In particular: (i) if mediation or assisted negotiation procedure leads to an agreement between the parties, without prejudice to the fee for the conciliation phase, the fees for the activation and negotiation phases are increased by 30%; (ii) for judicial conciliation or settlement of the dispute, an increasement of 25% of legal fees is provided;

• increase of the average values for the various phases of the process (study, introductory, preliminary and decisional stages) only up to 50 %, instead of the previous 80 %. This measure was introduced at the express urging of the National Forensic Council, and is intended to deprive the judge of discretion in settling the attorney's fee;

• an increase of up to 50 % is provided for a lawyer who files pleadings under Article 378 of the Code of Civil Procedure before the Supreme Court of Cassation;

• in cases of conviction under Article 96 c.p.c., the compensation due to the losing party's lawyer is reduced by 75 %. In cases of inadmissibility, inadmissibility, or unfeasibility of the application, the fee is reduced, where serious and exceptional reasons explicitly stated in the grounds concur, to the extent of 50 %.
   

The new parameters will come into effect as of October 23, 2022.