Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am very pleased to bring the Bill before the House on Committee Stage. The Bill is a working recipe for the coexistence of the old and the new, which can ensure our legal services sector does not end up at a permanent competitive disadvantage and provide people who use legal services with better and more competitive choice. The Legal Services Regulation Bill will deliver on the programme for Government commitment to establish independent regulation of the legal profession, improve access and competition, make legal costs more transparent and ensure adequate procedures for addressing consumer complaints.

After 30 years of reports and recommendations, the Bill, with the enhancements we will make to it in the Seanad, will provide for the independent regulation of the provision of legal services in the State and a far more transparent legal costs regime. It contains substantial provisions, which will promote competition, help reduce legal costs in Ireland and support Ireland's economic competitiveness. These very important reforms, which are good news for customers and small business enterprises, will improve equity of access to the justice system for all. All of this will be achieved by balancing in law, in the stated objectives of the Bill and by amendment where necessary, legal professional principles and the interests of those who avail of legal services, this time in a more modern way under an independent regulator.

Let there be no doubt that while the Bill does not obstruct the traditional form of legal practice, it demands that legal practitioners do not obstruct the Bill's reforms. While some observations have been critical of the proposed new regulatory regime and some aspects of today's anticipated amendments, they have missed the point. The new regime is being built by specific statutory provision on the foundation of an independently nominated regulatory authority, an independent complaints committee, an independent practitioners' disciplinary tribunal and a full suite of High Court powers and safeguards.

As passed by the Dáil, the Bill already comprises 158 sections spread over 13 Parts. During its passage through the Dáil, more than 235 amendments were made, and I will lay out for the Seanad very briefly the amendments I am about to propose. They will see the replacement and reconfiguration of two Parts of the Bill to reflect the co-regulatory framework now in place between the new legal services regulatory authority and the Law Society. This was foreseen in some of the amendments in the Dáil, but the Bill was skeletal in some areas with a great amount of work to be done, which is what I am bringing forward today.

Provision will be made for the possible transfer of the complaints handling staff of the Law Society and the Bar Council into the new body, to ensure adequate working capacity and expertise as we move from the old system to the new. I am glad to say such a transfer has received support from all parties in the Dáil and, I am led to believe, the Seanad has the same view. It makes sense to ensure the ability of the new complaints facility to hit the ground running and gain early public confidence. The societies have been doing this for decades. There has never been independent regulation. This is a serious transfer of function and we must take account of procedures and practices, history and expertise in the transfer to the new body of certain obligations. We must ensure the new body works in tandem with the established bodies and nothing is lost in translation so the consumers and practitioners do not lose out on the expertise in handling issues, such as the financial compensation fund, which has been built up so painstakingly over a long period.

On foot of the amendments proposed, all public complaints, no matter what their subject matter, will be made to and remain in the hands of legal services regulatory authority to be prosecuted to a conclusion. The authority will have the power to go back to the relevant body, such as the Law Society, and I will go into detail in this regard.

The provisions on inspections and search and entry will be strengthened, legal services advertising will be brought in line with EU directives and there will be a strengthening of existing provisions on cost, including the chief legal costs adjudicator replacing the Taxing Master. There will be more transparency on fees, and there is quite an amount of detail on this point. A two year review clause is built in, at the end of which note will be taken of how consumer and competitiveness issues have been addressed over the two year period.

This is a quick summary of the approach, and I will now discuss the amendments. This group of amendments relates to consequential amendments to the Solicitors Acts which, I note, are from 1954 to 2008. We are speaking about Acts from over a long period, all of which had to be looked at and various amendments made to arrive at the point where we have a new independent authority. This issue may also arise on Report Stage.

Amendment No. 1 is a technical amendment with regard to a collective citation. Amendment No. 154 is with regard to section 3 of the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1960 and substitutes a new definition of "misconduct" which will refer to the definition of "misconduct" provided for in the legal services regulation Act. This is to ensure there is equivalence between the two pieces of legislation in investigations. It is very straightforward and technical. Amendment No. 155 amends section 2 of the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1994 with regard to the definition of "authority" to mean the legal services regulatory authority under the Act.

Amendment No. 156 is important and substitutes a new section 14A into the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1994. It deals with the powers of the Law Society to investigate alleged misconduct by solicitors. With the new arrangements on complaints and procedures, it is necessary to clarify what powers the Law Society will have to investigate complaints. Subsection (1) of the new section 14A sets out what the Law Society may investigate where it receives a complaint about a solicitor or where the authority requests it to carry out an investigation. Subsection (2) provides that the society should conduct an investigation in compliance with a request from the authority, because the authority can request the Law Society to conduct an investigation under section 50 of the legal services regulation Act. Subsection (3) permits the Law Society to issue a direction or more than one direction to a solicitor where it considers that the act or omission of the solicitor warrants a sanction.This will apply except where the Law Society considers that due to the gravity of the concerns raised, the matter should be referred to the disciplinary tribunal I mentioned in the context of subsection (6). Subsection (5) provides that where a solicitor takes the measure or measures specified in the direction of the Law Society, the matter shall be considered as determined. Subsection (7) relates to notifications to be made to a solicitor on the determination of a complaint.

These follow on from the major changes we have made on the role of the LSRA handling disciplinary issues. Amendment No. 157 amends section 26 of the Solicitors Act, which relates to the provision of professional indemnity cover. New provisions on it will be provided in the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015. The amendments are designed to ensure continuity with these provisions. Accordingly, the amendment ensures that the Law Society may make regulations in this matter but only with the consent of the authority. The amendments also provide that the regulation may extend to solicitors in legal partnerships, multidisciplinary practices or limited liability partnerships.