Sharp increase in number of barristers leaving profession

Milk & Honey

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/0211/1224311625221.html

I didn't think membership of the Law Library was compulsory.


IT IS known that the recession is affecting the legal profession, but the full extent of its impact on barristers has been revealed by new figures.

The number of barristers who have left the Law Library in the five months since October, the beginning of the legal year, is nearly as high as the number who left in the full year of 2009-2010.

The year 2010-2011 also saw a sharp increase in those leaving the barristers’ profession.

All barristers must be members of the Law Library to practise. In their first year, newly qualified barristers, who do not earn because they are unpaid trainees or “devils” with more senior colleagues, pay €1,500 in Law Library fees.

These fees rise gradually until a junior counsel is paying €6,000 after 12 years. A senior counsel pays €9,000.

In the past, young barristers also incurred the cost of buying a gown and wig, although compulsory wigs were abolished some years ago. When she took up office as Chief Justice last year, Mrs Justice Susan Denham abolished the wearing of wigs for judges, effectively making them redundant, so newly qualifying barristers are unlikely to make this investment – which costs about €500.

The impact of the recession on barristers is seen in the fact that 68 people have left the profession since October last, out of a total of 2,300. This compares with 77 who left in the whole year of 2009-2010.

The rate of attrition also rose last year, when 114 left in the year from October 2010 to 2011.

Most of those leaving are junior counsel, some of whom are likely to be younger barristers who have failed to get established in the profession. Some barristers spend their whole careers as juniors.

Of the 77 who left in 2009-2010, six were senior counsel. Seven senior counsel out of 114 left in 2010-2011 and since last October, three senior counsel have left out of 68.

The number leaving the Bar for financial reasons or to take up other employment, rather than retiring, has been rising very sharply. In 2009-2010 these accounted for just under half, 37, of the 77 who left, while 30 retired, four became judges and six died.

In 2010-2011, however, the number leaving for financial reasons, or to take up other employment, had more than doubled to 76. One became a judge, two died and 35 retired.

This year, 38 have left for financial reasons or to take up other employment in the five months since October – more than all those leaving for this reason two years earlier. Two became judges, three died and 25 retired so far this year. The trend is likely to continue.

impr0v

Milk & Honey wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/0211/1224311625221.html

I didn't think membership of the Law Library was compulsory.

It isn't.

johnnyskeleton

What is the correct context for this though? 150-200 new barristers coming on board each year, with an attrition rate around 76 per year, based on financial reasons rather than other reasosn, but increasing.

What is the established wisdom concerning attrition rate? 50%? I've heard up to 80% from some people. So this is really just confirmation of an already well known issue.

Delancey

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

What is the correct context for this though? 150-200 new barristers coming on board each year, with an attrition rate around 76 per year, based on financial reasons rather than other reasosn, but increasing.

What is the established wisdom concerning attrition rate? 50%? I've heard up to 80% from some people. So this is really just confirmation of an already well known issue.

+ 1 , attrition among junior barristers has always been high regardless of economic climate , it is and has always been a difficult profession to become established in.

I think the problems solicitors are experiencing are more directly related to the recession.

Reloc8

Delancey wrote: »

I think the problems solicitors are experiencing are more directly related to the recession.

I would agree, except insofar as the recession has often prevented the families of barristers starting out from being able to support them financially for the first few years to the same or any extent as was previously the case.

dermot_sheehan

I would say the statistics produced by the Law Library underestimate the situation. I suspect many people stop coming in, stop paying their fees, and don't formally leave the law library but are just billed their subscription which is not paid until they are formally excluded.

Membership is technically not compulsory but in practice it is. When called to the bar an undertaking is given to the Chief Justice to become a member of the law library and to abide by its rules. I'm unaware of any sanction having ever been imposed for breach of this undertaking, and for the past few years there have been several individuals practising while not members of the Law Library.

It would be an unusual position to be in, and the norm would be membership. The Legal Services Bill if enacted, would make rights of audience dependent on being on the roll of barristers maintained by the Law Library.

Regarding the recession I would say it has ironically reduced the attrition rate. The number of other opportunities available for a struggling barrister are quite limited so I suspect many people who would have left for other employment during the boom are remaining in practice.