Reforming the legal profession - Plans diluted

Having blown the dust off the document prepared by her predecessor, former justice minister Alan Shatter, the present incumbent, Frances Fitzgerald, has issued a bill aimed at making the legal profession more competitive but according to one expert, the Shatter proposals have been so diluted that lawyers will effectively end up policing fellow lawyers, thereby reducing the economic impact of the Irish legal system in terms of lowering costs.

Because the Irish legal system is among the costliest in the world, it renders the economy as a whole less competitive, more costly, and by no means as transparent in comparison with other economies.

That is the firmly held view of Dr Stephen Kinsella, economist at the University of Limerick, who claims that only the rich can resort to this country’s legal services and argues there is a price threshold above which most people can’t go. Giving the Law Society an overview role is the same as letting gardaí investigate other gardaí, he says.

Because Mr Shatter’s good work is not carried through, lawyers are laughing all the way to the bank.