High Court received seven applications against legal practitioners in 2022

In total, 1,352 complaints against legal practitioners were made to the Legal services regulator last year

Seven applications were issued to the High Court, for orders to enforce the LSRA's directions against legal practitioners.

Legal practitioners must comply with the Legal Services Regulatory Authority on foot of consumer complaints or risk being brought to the High Court, the complaints body has warned in its 2022 Annual Report.

Receiving a total of 1,352 complaints and closing a total of 1,438 last year, just under two-thirds were related to alleged misconduct, with 32% attributed to inadequate standards and the remaining 4% down to excessive costs.

The vast majority of complaints were made against solicitors, compared to just 42 relating to barristers, with the LSRA noting this reflected the higher number of solicitors and their greater level of contact with consumers.

Of the total complaints, 151 were brought against legal practitioners in Cork, accounting for 11%, with 67 in Limerick, around 5% of total complaints. Across Dublin city and county, 504 complaints were made, with the capital and Cork combined accounting for almost half (48%) of all complaints.

Of the total complaints resolved in the period, 677 were found to be inadmissible, 348 were resolved with the assistance of the LSRA, and 212 were withdrawn or could not proceed. Seven applications were issued to the High Court, for orders to enforce the LSRA's directions against legal practitioners.

“In 2022, due to the failure of a small number of legal practitioners to comply with directions made following the investigation of a complaint, the LSRA began applying to the High Court for enforcement orders," said LSRA chief executive, Brian Doherty.

"Where a direction has been made by the LSRA or one of its committees and the legal practitioner fails to comply within the required timeline, the LSRA will apply to the High Court for enforcement and will also seek an order for costs."

In addition, the report also reported 82 Limited Liability Partnership authorisations, adding that this number grew at a steady pace throughout last year. This brought the total number of LLPs authorised since November 2019 to 424 at the end of 2022, up from 364 at the end of 2021.

A total of 40 LLPs were authorised in county Dublin, with nine in Cork, seven in Galway and four in Tipperary.

Furthermore, a total of 2,957 barristers were on the Roll of Practising Barristers on the 31st of December 2022, reflecting an increase of 24 on the previous year. Of these, 2,173 were members of the Law Library and 784 were practising outside of the Law Library.