Justice Minister Alan Shatter announced that measures would be incorporated into the bill to ensure the independent appointment of members of the legal profession disciplinary bodies created by the legislation.
Concern
According to a report in the Irish Times, Mr Shatter said the government will ‘include changes to the ministerial consents and method of appointment to the legal services regulatory authority ... as well as putting the disciplinary architecture beyond any perception of undue influence by minister or government’.
There has been wide spread concern among Irish lawyers and civil liberties campaigners that the proposed Legal Services Regulation Bill is a thinly-veiled attack on the legal profession, attempting to impose greater government control over solicitors and barristers.
Following England
The justice minister – himself a highly controversial family law specialist while in legal practice – also hinted that Ireland might eventually follow the English jurisdiction by adopting reformed business structures for law firms.
According to the newspaper report, Mr Shatter is not in a hurry on that front, saying that proposals for new business structures would require further refinement. Nonetheless, it quoted him as saying: ‘the bill is set to open up the path of the legal services sector to the future ...’
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