The Law Society has rejected the central proposals of the Competition Authority for reform of the legal profession.
The proposals came in a report from the authority last February, and urged the creation of a new independent regulatory body, called a Legal Services Commission, which would have a majority of non-lawyers and have responsibility for regulation and standards in legal education.
This would mean the monopoly on legal education exercised by the Law Society and the King's Inns (for barristers) would end, and other educational institutions would offer legal training, subject to certain agreed standards.
The authority also proposed a number of changes in the way both professions are organised, ending the rigid demarcation between the two professions and allowing direct access to barristers.
The Law Society rejects all these proposals, stating that the case for them has not been made. It states that the recommendations are "based on preconceptions and ideology rather than on reality and a careful assessment of facts", claiming that the authority failed to follow the principles of good regulatory practice outlined by the Government's 2004 White Paper on the subject.
Referring to the proposed new regulator, it says the authority failed to produce any evidence that such a body would have any effect on competition for solicitor services.
"What is involved, therefore, is a broader question of regulatory policy for the Government. It is not a question of competition policy on which the views of the Competition Authority should carry weight," said the director general of the society, Ken Murphy. He added that no account had been taken by the authority of the society's independent review of its regulation system, the Brosnan report, which found it efficient and fair.
He pointed out that there had been none of the serious criticisms of complaints-handling by the society, such as had been levelled at the Law Society in England and Wales.
A report into this by Sir David Clementi proposed an independent regulatory body in that jurisdiction, and Mr Murphy said that this seemed to have unduly influenced the Competition Authority, despite the different circumstances.
He said that the authority's own preliminary report (drawn up by economic consultants Indecon) concluded that the market for solicitors' services was already highly competitive.
"Intense internal and external competition is a daily reality for solicitors," it said, pointing out that there are over 7,000 solicitors and over 2,000 firms.
The response also points out that there is no obstacle to entry into the profession via the society's law school, which has increased its intake by 88 per cent in the past three years. The Law Society's response justifies its monopoly of solicitor training on the grounds that its team of solicitor lecturers, assisted by external examiners and assessors, is best placed to provide the kind of professional training necessary, and can do so economically because of its economies of scale.