FEW OCCUPATIONS can escape the adverse impact of economic recession. Solicitors have greatly profited from legal work generated by a prolonged property boom but they now face financial difficulties as the economic downturn intensifies. In two large legal practices in Dublin, trainee solicitors were recently dealt a double blow. Their pay was cut and they were told that, after completing their training, they would not be hired. The legal profession, which has expanded rapidly in the past decade, is now seeing a reduced workload requiring fewer solicitors.
This lower demand for legal services coincides with a proposed sharp rise in the premiums that solicitors pay for professional indemnity insurance which is compulsory. The Solicitors Mutual Defence Fund, on which many smaller legal firms rely for their insurance, has recently advised members that next year premiums may be raised by 130 per cent or more. One reason the fund offered to justify this large increase is its "poor claims experience" which reflects a sharp rise in the level and number of claims in recent years. Increased premiums mean higher overhead costs for solicitors and these may well be passed on in higher client fees. In the case of some sole practitioners, the viability of their legal practices may be undermined.
For the Law Society, which regulates how solicitors operate, difficulties have intensified. On Monday, the president of the High Court greatly increased the fines imposed on two solicitors for professional misconduct which arose from overcharging clients. Mr Justice Richard Johnson effectively rebuked the Law Society for its failure to appeal against the leniency of the original fines which were imposed by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal - two thirds of whose members are solicitors. In raising the financial penalties fourfold to €100,000 on each solicitor, Mr Justice Johnson said he wanted to send out a message that dishonesty would not be tolerated in the legal profession.
The Law Society in its general handling of disciplinary matters against its own members has continued to show poor judgment. It was slow to act in closing down the practices of two of its members, Michael Lynn and Thomas Byrne, when faced with major financial irregularities in the operation of their firms. Irregularities on such a scale should have been readily apparent from the society's monitoring of the solicitors' annual accounts. It is facing a formidable task in restoring public confidence in a profession that struggles to reform itself.