A NEED for regulatory reform of the legal profession to encourage greater efficiency and cost controls has been a consistent theme in reports by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. As a result of its promptings, the Competition Authority was asked by government to make further recommendations.
Between them, they proposed that an independent commission should replace the self-regulation system operated by solicitors and barristers and that control of education and entry to the profession should be removed from these self- governing bodies. None of this has happened.
The Legal Services Ombudsman Bill represents a tentative nod in the direction of reform. But it will do little to strengthen the rights of consumers who feel they have been wronged by legal practitioners and fobbed off by their professional complaints committees. A new office of Legal Ombudsman will be fully funded by the legal profession but he, or she, will not be given the power to personally investigate grievances or make awards. Only cases that have already been ruled on by internal complaints committees will be considered. In those instances, the best that may happen is that the committees will be asked to review their findings.
Labour Party spokesman on justice Pat Rabbitte criticised the proposed agency in the Dáil as just another quango that will fail to deal with the ills besetting the legal profession. He felt it would add to the frustration of consumers who suffered at the hands of negligent and incompetent solicitors and who failed to get satisfaction from their complaints bodies. He has a point. This is not the kind of ombudsman that consumers demanded.
Before any appointment can be made, the Minister for Justice must first consult the Law Society and the Bar Council about the candidate and agree the terms of employment and financial remuneration of the external individual. That is a far cry from the manner in which the Financial Regulator, who oversees the functioning of the banks and other institutions, is appointed. There has been much political posturing concerning the need to reform the legal profession. To be fair, the Bar Council and the Law Society have responded by making changes to their rules and methods of operation. But their complaints bodies are still remote, their codes of conduct can be arcane, and their legal charges and related issues are not always precisely defined. This effort by Government to hold members of the profession to account is inadequate.