NINE PEOPLE are to be made redundant by the Law Society of Ireland because of the drop in the number of trainee solicitors.
The number of students enrolled in law society courses has dropped by some 40 per cent in two years, according to the society.
This follows a 91 per cent increase in trainee solicitors between 2001 and 2006, and the recruitment of additional law school staff, nine of whom are now being let go.
The recession has brought a steep decline in work for the profession and the almost complete collapse in residential and commercial conveyancing is just one element of this, the society said.
Its director general Ken Murphy said the costs of other society activities were kept separate and had no impact on professional training by the law school, where the redundancies are being made.
Other activities include the lease of a separate building to house the society’s regulation department, but Mr Murphy said that was irrelevant to the redundancies, which were in the law school.
In 2007, 671 students enrolled in the society’s professional practice course but the intake dropped in September 2008 to 595 and enrolments for this academic year are expected to be about 400.
Mr Murphy said extensive cuts in non staff-related costs have been implemented by the society over the last year. “However, these cuts in expenditure have been insufficient to prevent the society’s law school potentially incurring very significant losses on the course beginning in September. Consequently payroll costs have had to be reduced also.
“Very regrettably but inevitably, a number of staff positions, nine in all, are redundant. Meetings took place earlier this week with all of the staff affected,” he added.
The school had recruited extra staff to deal with the expansion but the recession caused a great reduction in the number of trainees, Mr Murphy said.
He noted there were 609 newly-registered solicitors since the start of the year. “It may well be the case that the majority of these are currently without work.”
