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How much of an oversupply of solicitors is there in Ireland?

  • 25-05-2011 2:38pm
    #1
    jonsnow
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 724 ✭✭✭


    I know that there have been a few threads on this topic over the last few years.I went to a talk a few months a go where there was an accountant who specialises in buying and selling law practices giving a speech.If I recall correctly I think he said that there is 7000 qualified solicitors in Ireland and only jobs for 5000.Now I could have those figures wrong but I,m pretty sure that there is 2000 too many solicitors.

    I need to do a paper on the state of the profession and I was just wondering does anyone have any recent links which would corroborate that number (2000 too many).I haven,t been able to find anything.


Comments

  • #2
    jakdelad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 452 ✭✭jakdelad


    jonsnow wrote: »
    I know that there have been a few threads on this topic over the last few years.I went to a talk a few months a go where there was an accountant who specialises in buying and selling law practices giving a speech.If I recall correctly I think he said that there is 7000 qualified solicitors in Ireland and only jobs for 5000.Now I could have those figures wrong but I,m pretty sure that there is 2000 too many solicitors.

    I need to do a paper on the state of the profession and I was just wondering does anyone have any recent links which would corroborate that number (2000 too many).I haven,t been able to find anything.
    do solicitors put their prices on display
    are they paid by result or time??


  • #3
    blueythebear
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,074 ✭✭✭blueythebear


    jakdelad wrote: »
    do solicitors put their prices on display
    are they paid by result or time??

    With all due respect, that's not what the OP asked and should really be started in another thread as it's completely irrelevant here.

    To the OP, there's a Business Post Article here

    http://www.sbpost.ie/businessoflaw/number-of-unemployed-solicitors-rises-to-1200-48939.html

    Certainly last year the stats were 1200 out of 8200 qualified solicitors were unemployed. There'd have been another round of newly qualified solicitors this year (400 to 500) and certainly not all of them are unemployed. I would imagine that the figure isn't quite 2000 but probably more like 1500.

    That said that is presuming that the figures above taken from the Law Soc are reliable and include ALL qualified solicitors. I have a feeling that this figure may only include those that have practising certs for that year and if so, this would probably push the figure past the 2000 mark.


  • #4
    johnfás
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,343 ✭✭✭johnfás


    There's alot of work across smaller and bigger firms arising from the economic mess - whether thats debt collection and small insolvency work in smaller firms up to largescale NAMA and associated litigation in the bigger firms. This will last for a fairly long time but in the longrun there is a problem that as it dries up we are heading for a smaller corporate environment in Ireland which won't require the same number of solicitors.

    Will be interesting to see if Dublin tries to become a lawyer back office like Belfast has in recent times. Might be one of the few chances for alot.


  • #5
    shaneybaby
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 415 ✭✭shaneybaby


    johnfás wrote: »

    Will be interesting to see if Dublin tries to become a lawyer back office like Belfast has in recent times. Might be one of the few chances for alot.

    What do you mean by Lawyer back office? like they do a lot of work for other firms outside belfast (as in outsourcing)?


  • #6
    johnfás
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,343 ✭✭✭johnfás


    shaneybaby wrote: »
    What do you mean by Lawyer back office? like they do a lot of work for other firms outside belfast (as in outsourcing)?

    Exactly. Stuff like this > http://www.legalweek.com/legal-week/news/1900272/herbert-smith-belfast-office-handle-disputes-document-review


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  • #7
    Amazotheamazing
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,048 ✭✭✭Amazotheamazing


    The OP should ring Keith O'Malley in the Law Society, he'll be able to talk you through the numbers and issues facing solicitors in Ireland atm, provided you aren't looking to do some weird hatchet job on the profession (as the second poster is).

    It's very hard to find out just how many solicitors are unemployed because a lot of them are unemployed solicitors in the sense they aren't working as solicitors but they are working in some other legal area. Also, after a certain period of unemployment, most people will either emigrate or move into a completely different, non-legal field.

    The profession is facing massive challenges though, I don't think it's too controversial to say so. We have a fair idea of what the equilibrium point of solicitor numbers was before the boom and we know what it was at the peak of the boom but no-one knows what it's going to be from here on out. I don't think we've ever had a point where there has been so many solicitors unemployed in Ireland. A lot of people are waiting for the English Law Society and Irish Law Society to fix the mutual recognition problem that exists at the minute so they can try their luck in England.


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