Law Society welcomes end to compo adverts

The Director General of Ireland’s Law Society today said he was delighted at new regulations designed to put an end to the country’s compensation culture.

In a bid to halt what is commonly known as the 'compo culture', the Law Society last week made a decision banning its members from advertising 'no win, no fee' services, stopping solicitors publishing advertisements referring to claims for personal injuries.

The new regulations are expected to be passed on to the Department of Justice and if accepted by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell they could become law from the start of November.

Ken Murphy of the Law Society today said many solicitors were happy with the regulations, and said he was delighted this form of no win, no fee advertising was set to become 'a thing of the past'.

Speaking on radio he said he expected the regulations to receive consent from the Minister for Justice and be passed as law.

He said: "The key thing is that the solicitor shall not publish an advertisement which expressly refers to claims or possible claims for damages for personal injuries. There would be very limited circumstances in which it will still be possible for a solicitor in an advertisement to refer to personal injuries."

He said the Law Society believed solicitors were happy with the new regulations, and had consulted widely within the profession on the subject.

"Advertising was imposed on a reluctant profession by Government in 1988," he said. "Most solicitors have never advertised and regret that this type of advertising, this type of personal injury advertising was ever allowed.

"I’ve been in this studio before complaining about the delay in the Government in introducing the legislation, it took four years to pass.

"Now it’s in place, now we’re acting on it. The regulations were made by the Council of the Law Society last Friday morning, they were delivered to the Minister last Friday afternoon.

"It’s the certain type of advertising which is seen to encourage unnecessary or excessive litigation of this kind is viewed by the Government as something which socially is undesirable, and we believe that this type of advertising has damaged the image of the profession and we are delighted to see it go."

"We would say that solicitor advertising, along with other factors in society, has contributed to an increase in personal injuries litigation.

"We’re delighted to see that this type of advertising which has diminished the public esteem of the solicitor profession will become a thing of the past shortly."