The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has rejected Italian rules enforcing minimum legal fees, concluding that Italian Bar rules on the matter are anti-competitive as foreign firms are blocked from offering lower fees. However, the ECJ ruling concludes that set rates could be applied in some circumstances with a public interest justification. The ruling effectively leaves it up to the Italian courts to decide in what circumstances, if any, minimum fees can be justified.

Legalweek.com (6 December).