Reimbursement of expenses for legal services in court proceedings: from theory to practice

What are the pros and cons of claiming reimbursement of legal fees in court proceedings, what documents need to be submitted, how to object to the recovery of such costs, and when can the court reduce the amount?

These issues were discussed by advocates during a webinar organized by the Bar Council of Ivano-Frankivsk Region in cooperation with the regional representative of the UNBA NextGen Lilia Ivanchuk. Advocate Daria Tarasenko was invited to speak at the event.

The speaker reminded that, according to paragraph 14 of the Recommendations of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CMCE) to member states on measures facilitating access to justice (on measures facilitating access to justice) No. R(81)7, except in special circumstances, the winning party should, in principle, be reimbursed by the losing party for the costs and expenses, including lawyers' fees, which it has reasonably incurred in connection with the proceedings.

The procedure for recovering costs related to legal assistance provided by an advocate is provided for in Article 134 of the Code of Administrative Procedure, Article 137 of the Code of Civil Procedure, and Article 126 of the Code of Commercial Procedure. The Administrative Court of Cassation in case No. 240/32993/23 noted (decision of 23.01.2025) that the purpose of recovering legal aid costs is not only to compensate the party in whose favor the decision was made for the losses incurred, but also, in a certain sense, to encourage the authority to refrain from actions that would subsequently necessitate the restoration of the violated rights and interests of individuals and legal entities in the sphere of public law relations.

Restoring financial justice for the client, preventing future violations of the law by the defendant, and encouraging the defendant to resolve the dispute before the court renders a decision are, in the speaker's opinion, the arguments that an advocate should use when deciding whether to recover the costs of legal assistance provided to the client from the opponent. Of course, it is possible that the case will be delayed and the court decision will take effect. Additional time will also be needed to prepare the necessary documents, and the client may be disappointed by the court's reduction of the amount of compensation.

At the same time, a claim for reimbursement of the costs of legal services may be made in the statement of claim (for the defendant in the response to the statement of claim, and for a third party in written explanations. To do this, the following must be submitted to the court:

• contract with the advocate;
• addendum to the contract specifying the amount of the fee (if the contract itself does not contain such a condition);
• description of the work (services provided) performed by the advocate (not required for a fixed fee, according to the practice of the Supreme Court).

It is also recommended to submit an invoice for the lawyer's services and a receipt for payment of the lawyer's services.

It is possible to object to the recovery of costs in full on the grounds of the absence of the necessary documents and the untimeliness of the claim.

A statement requesting a reduction in the amount of compensation must contain a justification as to why the amount of the claimed expenses is disproportionate to the complexity of the case, the value of the claim, the volume of materials in the case, the number of procedural documents prepared, the number of hearings, the duration of the court proceedings, etc.

In case of non-compliance with the requirements of part five of Article 134 of the Code of Administrative Procedure, the court may reduce the amount of legal aid costs to be distributed between the parties, but only at the request of the other party, which is obliged to prove that the costs are disproportionate to the services provided by the advocate.

However, in practice, courts are increasingly taking the initiative to reduce the reimbursement of costs related to the provision of legal assistance by an advocate and which are recovered in favor of the party whose claims have been satisfied by the court, noted D. Tarasenko. In her opinion, such actions of the court are contrary to the law, as noted by the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court in case No. 755/9215/15-ц (decision of 19.02.2020): it is the interested party who must take certain actions aimed at recovering the costs of professional legal assistance from the other party, and the other party has the right to raise appropriate objections to such claims, which excludes the court's initiative to recover the costs of professional legal assistance from one of the parties without appropriate action on the part of that party.

The speaker provided practical advice to the audience on how to claim reimbursement of legal aid costs, explained the specifics of recovery in appeal and cassation proceedings, provided samples of procedural documents, and links to relevant court decisions.