Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Parts 5 and 6 as passed by the Dáil have been remodelled into a new single Part 6. The amendments in the grouping represent a core policy change since the Bill's inception whereby the Law Society, under the oversight of the new legal services regulatory authority, will retain its existing investigative, protective and disciplinary powers regarding the financial regulation of solicitors under the Solicitors Acts. The Law Society will therefore continue to oversee the implementation of the solicitors' accounts regulations, carry out routine financial inspections of solicitors and investigate any financial infringements and prosecute them before the legal practitioners disciplinary tribunal. In a complaint against a solicitor, the authority, complaints committee or disciplinary tribunal will be able to request the Law Society to carry out an investigation under the Solicitors Acts into the matter relevant to the complaint. The Law Society will have to comply with the request and, within a reasonable time, submit a report on the matter which will be admissible in any disciplinary proceedings. It should be noted that the authority will be solely responsible for the handling of all complaints against legal practitioners.

The three grounds on which a person may make a complaint to the authority are that an act or omission of the legal practitioner constitutes misconduct, that the legal services provided by the legal practitioner were inadequate or that the amount of costs sought by the legal practitioner were excessive. The authority will have the power to seek resolutions to complaints and may invite the complainant and the legal practitioner to make efforts to resolve the issue in an informal manner. Where both parties agree to such an approach, the authority may facilitate efforts to resolve matters either directly or by referring parties to other persons willing to assist with information resolution.

The final important provision of the new Part is one which specifies what is meant by misconduct by a legal practitioner in the context of the legislation.

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