Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 January 2014
161. Deputy Patrick Nulty asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will consider bringing an amendment to the Legal Services Regulation Bill to allow for the transfer of staff from the Law Society to the new authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2976/14]
View answerI have previously stated the position in relation to this matter in response to a number of previous Parliamentary Questions and in the course of its discussion with Deputies on 15 January 2014 during Committee Stage of the Legal Services Regulation Bill which is now coming close to completion. I have also received a number of representations on the matter from the Law Society, concerned members of its staff and from trade union representatives.
It is fundamental that the new Legal Services Regulatory Authority, to be established under the Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011, be independent of the legal professions and of the Government in the performance of its functions. This will include its implementation of new and independent procedures relating to allegations of professional misconduct by either solicitors or barristers. Such complaints will be dealt with under the auspices of the new Regulatory Authority's Complaints Committee and supported, where appropriate, by the work of the new and independent Legal Practitioners' Disciplinary Tribunal. Under the Bill, members of the public will no longer go to the Law Society or to the Bar Council with their complaints in the first instance, as happens at the moment, but will instead make them through the Legal Services Regulatory Authority.
The independence of the new Regulatory Authority and of its attendant complaints and Disciplinary Tribunal procedures is, therefore, fundamental to their success and to the avoidance of any perception among members of the public that complaints about lawyers are being dealt with by lawyers themselves or by their representative bodies. In that spirit, I have previously welcomed the recognition, by the Law Society, that it would be "in the best interests of the public and the profession" if complaints about solicitors were no longer to be dealt with by the Society but by the new Legal Services Regulatory Authority. This stance has helped to underpin public perceptions of impartiality in the proposed new professional conduct regime to the utmost degree.
It is also desirable that the independence of the new regulatory regime be reflected in the relevant recruitment and appointment processes for staff of the new Authority and it is considered that such appointments should be better made by the Authority itself under open and public competition. Under this scenario, it should be open to existing staff of the legal professional bodies - who would obviously possess the relevant skills and experience - to apply for those positions advertised by the new Legal Services Regulatory Authority, which would then fill them independently.
At the same time, I readily acknowledge that the proposed reforms to the legal professional conduct regime will have negative implications for a number of existing and appropriately skilled staff who currently deal with public complaints made through the legal professional bodies. I have also noted the broad support given by Deputies, from across the Parties, during our discussion of this specific matter at Committee Stage on 15 March, to finding a workable solution which can reconcile the competing human resource and policy considerations involved. However, the human resource and other aspects of the establishment of the new Legal Services Regulatory Authority and of the Legal Practitioners' Disciplinary Tribunal remain matters of ongoing consideration at my Department and will have to be negotiated to their conclusion with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform which has overall responsibility for policy in these areas.
