DESPITE A high level of unemployment in the profession, the number of new solicitors joining the roll of solicitors continues to rise, according to the latest figures from the Law Society. However, the rise is slight compared with the peak years of the property boom.
Last year, the number of new solicitors joining the profession was 729, up from 705 in 2009. However, this did not match the figure for 2008, when 777 new solicitors joined the profession, the highest number so far, and a dramatic increase in four years.
In 2005 there were 417 new entrants. The surge in the numbers qualifying reflected the growth in legal services during the Celtic Tiger years.
The growth in the profession was also seen in the total number of solicitors, shown in the number holding practising certificates.
In 2010, 8,326 solicitors held practising certificates, an increase of 115 on the previous year. Between 2009 and 2010, the increase in the number registered was only five. Between 2002 and 2008 the number was increasing by between 300 and 400 a year.
However, since the collapse in the property market, with the attendant collapse in conveyancing, the mainstay of many firms, solicitors have been finding themselves out of work.
Ken Murphy, director general of the Law Society, estimates there are at least 1,000 unemployed solicitors. The problem has been reflected in a reduced demand for training places, with a 37 per cent fall in those seeking to train between 2007 and 2010.
A further difficulty has been the problem of obtaining affordable professional indemnity insurance.
A dramatic increase in claims against solicitors, almost always arising out of property transactions, combined with investment difficulties experienced by the main insurer, resulted in a major increase in premiums and even difficulty in obtaining a quotation.
Law Society president John Costello described the situation as a crisis in the current issue of the society’s Gazette.