The Government is to clear the way for the appointment of solicitors as judges of the High and Supreme Courts.
Lawyers with 10 years' experience, particularly of High and Supreme Court litigation, will be eligible for higher judicial appointment under new legislation to be published soon by the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue. At present, only barristers can be appointed to the senior courts. It is only since 1995 that solicitors have been eligible for appointment to the Circuit Court and, to date, five practising solicitors have been appointed Circuit Court judges.
It is understood the new Courts Bill, which will end what solicitors see as a "closed shop" favouring barristers for higher judicial appointments, will be brought to Cabinet for approval next month.
A Government-appointed working group recommended in February last year that solicitors with 10 years' experience of regular High or Supreme Court litigation would be eligible. A source close to the Minister said yesterday the legislation would take on board most of the recommendations of the Working Group on Qualifications for Appointment as Judges of the High and Supreme Courts.
The working group - established by the former Fine Gael Minister for Justice, Mrs Nora Owen, in December 1996 - included members of the Bar Council, the Law Society, the former director of consumer affairs and a member of the Competition Authority.
In its report, published a year ago, it recommended that all persons eligible for appointment to the High Court and Supreme Court should have a "significant" knowledge and experience of the decisions, practices and procedures of the courts.
The report also recommended that barristers, who must be in practice for 12 years before being appointed to the bench, should have two years' continuous practice immediately beforehand.
Mr O'Donoghue, who is a solicitor, advocated the change while opposition spokesman on justice in 1995. He told a Dail committee the legislation against solicitors becoming judges in the higher courts was "arcane". The recommendation will be seen as a compromise between the Law Society, which wanted all solicitors to be deemed eligible for judicial positions, and the Bar Council, which did not want any solicitors to become judges in the higher courts.
When the working group recommendations were published, the director general of the Law Society of Ireland, Mr Ken Murphy, said that with a number of senior judges due to retire, it was important the legislation be introduced quickly to allow solicitors qualify for appointments.
The Bar Council said last year it strongly supported the primary recommendation of the working group, that only those with significant knowledge and experience of the decisions, practices and procedures of the superior courts, and who have demonstrated this in practice before those courts, would be eligible.
On the question of where solicitors gain their litigation experience, it recommended that up to five years of that experience could be gained in public service or commercial work, while the two years before appointment must be in private practice.