The Cabinet will today hold preliminary discussions on far-reaching legislation to modernise the legal professions and to address the controversial areas of restrictions on access, competition, and the demarcation between solicitors and barristers.
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter will bring the Legal Services Bill to the Cabinet ahead of its publication which is expected at the end of September.
The legislation is required as part of the memorandum of understanding with the International Monetary Fund and European Union, which has included reform and modernisation of the professions as one of the conditions to be fulfilled by the end of the third quarter. The legal profession is one of three professional sectors targeted by the troika as “sheltered” and in need of reform to make them more competitive and cost-effective. The other two professions are medicine and pharmacy.
