Irish Legal Profession Faces Competition Shake-Up

by Jason Gorringe, for LawAndTax-News.com, London

26 March 2003

Ireland's Competition Authority last week published a report detailing the constraints on competition in eight professions, ahead of separate consultation documents on each sector.

The professional sectors under scrutiny in the study, which was carried out on the Competition Authority's behalf by Indecon International Economic Consultants were: engineers and architects, medical practitioners, vets, dentists and optometrists, and solicitors and barristers.

The Indecon report found that, with regard to the legal practitioners, advertising restrictions, the prohibition of multi-disciplinary practices, restrictions in organisational structure, and the monopoly held by the Law Society (in the case of solicitors), and the King's Inns (in the case of barristers) on the provision of professional training all acted as barriers to competition.

Speaking following the report's release, chairman of the Irish Competition Authority, Dr John Fingleton announced that:

'The Authority will now move on to complete the study profession by profession, starting with engineers. Using the Indecon findings and our own research, we will shortly publish a consultation paper on each profession...This paper will be published to permit public consultation before the final report is produced.'

Barristers and solicitors are expected to come under individual scrutiny last of all, with a report planned for March 2004.

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