Significant change in solicitors’ profession ahead of reform Bill

Prior to finalisation of the Legal Services Reform Bill, the Irish legal services market has already seen significant changes.

The Law Society of Ireland recently released figures which reveal that practising female solicitors outnumber practising male solicitors for the first time. This isn't the only change revealed by the figures. They also show that the number of practising solicitors in Ireland increased by 31 per cent between 2005 and 2014.

This is thought-provoking when compared with population growth. CSO census figures, together with the 2014 population estimate, suggest the Irish population has increased by 8 per cent since 2006.

Despite the well-publicised difficulties in the profession during the recession, the numbers of practising solicitors have been increasing out of line with population growth. There is a notable exception in the year of 2009, which saw a slight fall in the numbers of practising solicitors.

This trend is replicated in the jurisdiction of England and Wales, with figures from its regulatory authorities (currently the SRA and previously The Law Society) demonstrating a 28 per cent increase in practising solicitors in England and Wales between 2005 and 2015.

The Office for National Statistics figures, including current year estimates, suggest a 6 per cent increase in the population of England and Wales since 2005.

Why are the numbers of practising solicitors growing? Has this increase led to any tangible growth in access to and affordability of legal services for consumers?

The market is seeing noteworthy growth in the large commercial firms. This appears to be matched by falling numbers of smaller practices that tend to service the non-corporate legal consumer.

Twice as many

According to a report prepared by Fitzpatrick Associates and commissioned by the Law Society of Ireland, the largest 15 firms in Ireland employed twice as many solicitors in 2014 than in 2007.

There is also significant movement of labour occurring in the legal profession in Ireland, England and Wales. The profession is experiencing “rural flight”.

Comparing figures from 2014 to those of 2013, there was an increase of 9 per cent in the number of practising solicitors based in Dublin and a 6.5 per cent decrease in those based in other parts of the country.

In the UK, between 2001 and 2010, Greater London, Leeds, Manchester and surrounding areas saw above-average increases in the numbers of practising solicitors. Meanwhile, the less densely populated southwest of England saw a 10 per cent decrease.

For non-corporate consumers of legal services, is access to justice and access to affordable legal services getting lost in this growth scramble for large urban law firms? Who will fill this gap left by the decline of the small rural firm?

Are rural consumers simply less in need of nearby legal practices as accessibility is provided to many by phone and internet?

Is there a gap where rural dwellers are finding it difficult to obtain the services of a solicitor due to distance from a legal office?

Are consumers finding it difficult to find a solicitor to engage where the person with whom they are having a legal dispute has already engaged the services of the only solicitor in the vicinity?

We are in need of data to show the current position so that any changes can be measured.

The gap in legal services provision in rural areas, if there is such a gap, could be partly met through online legal services such as LegalZoom, which is operating in the US and, since January of this year, the UK market.

With a population of a mere 4.6 million, Ireland is likely to be low on the list of priorities for international legal services providers whose success is based on attracting large numbers of low-spend consumers. On an international scale, the number of Irish consumers facing legal services market is tiny.

What will legal services reform provide?

The introduction of the alternative business structure (ABS) model in the UK initially led to much publicised launches of consumer-focused operators.

A review of the progress of some of the most famous of these shows poor results. Eddie Stobarts’s brand, Stobarts Barristers, is reportedly no longer providing services to the public. The Co-operative Legal Services has reported heavy losses in its first years as an ABS. WH Smith’s offering, which provided stalls in its stores manned by Quality Solicitors, the high street solicitors’ network, has now ended.

Even Quality Solicitors, a group of firms that pay subscription fees to be part of a marketing brand and share know-how and service processes, is now in a challenging period. It has seen firm numbers decline in recent times.

With 100 firms still considering it worthwhile to participate in that network, creating something similar in this country may be an option for smaller Irish firms. For small rural practitioners, joining forces to share costs and implement risk-reducing processes may be a necessity. Given the size of the Irish market, it will be even more difficult for any type of alternative legal service providers to succeed on this side of the water.

Also, changes due under the Legal Services Reform Bill are currently on course to be of more limited effect than the recent UK reforms.

There is more change to come, but whether it is of greater effect than what has gone before remains to be seen.

Elizabeth Fitzgerald is a freelance solicitor