Sir, – It beggars belief that legal costs in Ireland are now 12 per cent higher than they were just before the recession hit. John McManus (Business+Innovation, July 30th) should be complimented for highlighting this and so too should Justice Brian McGovern for his references last week to certain professions “feeding on the carcasses” of insolvent and semi-solvent companies. No doubt the judge had the legal as well as other professions in his sights.
There have been so many excellent reports over the years aimed at reforming legal service practices in Ireland, but politicians have repeatedly refused to grasp that nettle. Why? Because lawyers collectively with their entrenched positions and tenacious hold on things can act as a powerful pressure group whenever their self-serving practices are threatened. The insistence of the IMF in 2010 on a root and branch reform of this profession seemed like a god-send at the time and although Alan Shatter went about preparing the required legislation in a businesslike way, it is still only a bill and some compromises have already been allowed.
One can only hope that when the bill returns to the Oireachtas in the autumn a further watering down will not take place – especially in relation to the Legal Services Regulatory Authority.
As John McManus points out, the proposed reforms, even as they stand, seem inadequate “as a response to a profession that was able to drive up prices by 12 per cent in the teeth of the worst economic crisis the country has ever seen while at the same time offering some of the worst value for money in the OECD.” – Yours, etc,