A core element of disputed plans to overhaul the legal professions is set to be deferred when Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald brings a long-delayed draft law back to the Dáil next month.
The introduction of the legislation, first unveiled in 2011, was a key condition of Ireland’s EU-International Monetary Fund bailout programme.
However, it ran into long delays and resistance from professional bodies representing both solicitors and barristers.
The legislation will break the traditional ban on solicitors and barristers working together in the same practice, removing one of the fundamental pillars of the legal establishment.
However, measures to allow lawyers work in one practice alongside accountants and other professionals are likely to be sent for a formal review by the new regulator of the sector before they can go ahead.
Multidisciplinary practices
This will push back introduction of multidisciplinary practices by a considerable period, as the regulator will not take office until the legislation is enacted. That might not happen until the middle of next year.
The objective behind the overhaul, under discussion for over a decade, is to reduce legal costs. The delays were a source of frequent criticism by the EU-IMF troika, which has a team of inspectors in Dublin this week for a second post-bailout examination of the Government’s work.
Ms Fitzgerald’s predecessor, Alan Shatter, championed the draft law but it became a source of tension between Fine Gael and Labour. Although Ms Fitzgerald’s views on this matter were not previously known, her department is understood to be working on a change to the legislation under which the new Legal Services Regulatory Authority would review the operation of multidisciplinary practices in other countries before they can be set up here.
This provision is likely to be introduced by way of an amendment to the Legal Services Regulation Bill during the report stage debate on the legislation in the Dáil, now expected some time before the Christmas recess. Only next year will the legislation go to the Seanad.
In the proposal before the department, provisions allowing the establishment of multidisciplinary practices would be enacted when the legislation took force. However, the commencement of the relevant section of the law would be subject to the regulator’s review.
It is understood Ms Fitzgerald is keen for the review to assess whether any lessons can be drawn from similar measures in Australia and Britain.
It is not known whether any deadline would be set for the regulator’s review or whether the final decision for the measure to take effect would be taken by the Government or the regulator.
