The Competition Authority has warned it will use its powers if necessary to enforce changes to "anticompetitive" practices in the legal profession.
The current monopoly over the training of barristers and solicitors operated by the Law Society and the King's Inns is among the practices that could be targeted, it is understood. The ways in which fees are calculated by lawyers is another area where the authority could intervene if reforms are not implemented.
The calculation of legal costs on the basis of the size of the transaction involved, rather than the work done, was among the practices criticised by the authority in its final report into the legal profession yesterday.
The report recommends a radical overhaul of the industry, and a more consumer-oriented focus for the profession.
Authority chairman Bill Prasifka stressed it had adopted an "advocacy" approach to the issue of reform. He said the aim was to encourage those involved and the Government to bring about the necessary change. The authority had significant enforcement powers which would be held "in reserve" and implemented if necessary.
The report calls for an end to uninhibited self-regulation by barristers and solicitors, greater transparency in legal fees, and the creation of a new profession of specialist "conveyancers" to help reduce the cost of property transactions. Such work is currently shared between 7,242 solicitors who are "the only professionals permitted to provide conveyancing services", the report says.
The report recommends the introduction of new legislation to establish an independent Legal Services Commission with overall responsibility for the profession, and calls for an independent body to set standards and approve institutions which provide legal training.
It says the practice of junior counsel being awarded a fee set at two-thirds of the senior counsel's fee, without reference to the work done, should cease immediately.
The report states that Irish consumers, businesses and organisations paid just over €1 billion for legal services in 2003, but that competition in the area is "severely hampered by many unnecessary restrictions permeating the legal profession".
These include restrictions on entry to solicitor and barrister training, which are the subject of a monopoly, the existence of a "highly rigid" business model, and "known anti-consumer practices". Several of these claims were yesterday rejected by the Law Society and the Bar Council.
A spokeswoman for the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Michael McDowell, said he will consider the report in the coming weeks.