Report urges opening up of solicitors' profession

Solicitors: The statement by Mr Alan Gray, managing partner of Indecon, that "very major restrictions" on competition exist in the solicitors' profession is likely to be hotly contested by the Law Society.

Mr Gray focused on four areas: entry restrictions; restrictions on conduct, with specific reference to advertising and soliciting business; restrictions on demarcation; and restrictions on organisational form, specifically the prohibition on the formation of limited liability companies and multi-disciplinary businesses.

At the moment the only body providing training for solicitors is the Law Society. The two-year course, which includes working in a solicitor's office, and is accessed via an entrance examination in law, costs €9,510.

According to the Indecon report, broader access could be achieved by the Law Society licensing independent institutions, like universities and private educational institutions, to provide professional qualifications.

However, the Law Society said that theirs is a vocational training course, given by practitioners, and for economy of scale reasons needs to be given in Dublin. It is provided on a non-profit basis, and another provider would therefore cost more, it says.

Indecon was also critical of certain restrictions on the transfer of solicitors from non-EU jurisdictions, and suggested that the only restriction should be three years' experience working in the State. The Law Society pointed out that the number involved each year is about four.

Indecon also saw no reason why barristers wishing to transfer to the solicitors' profession should have to have practised as barristers first for a period of three years.

They accepted that the restrictions on advertising, especially with regard to personal injuries, were generally necessary to protect the public interest. However, they thought solicitors should be able to advertise superior specialist knowledge.

The solicitors' services used by most people are conveyancing, when they buy or sell their home, and probate, when property is bequeathed or inherited.

Indecon considered that these areas should be opened up to specialist, but non-solicitor, providers, provided they were trained and licensed.

At the moment solicitors may not form limited companies, but only work as sole traders or form unlimited partnerships, and they pay professional indemnity insurance to cover liability if they are sued. Indecon claims that the formation of limited companies would enhance market entry, and multi-disciplinary practices would allow "one-stop-shops" for a range of services.