Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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Question 169: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if the Legal Services Bill will have an impact on staff working in the complaints department of the Law Society; and if he will confirm that staff who have been doing this job for years will have to apply for their positions in the new legal authority if the legislation is passed. [12956/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The new Legal Services Regulatory Authority to be established under the Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011 will be independent of the legal professions and of the Government in the performance of its functions. This will include new and independent procedures relating to allegations of professional misconduct by either solicitors or barristers. Such complaints will be dealt with under the auspices of the Authority's Complaints Committee and supported, where appropriate, by the work of the new and independent Legal Practitioners' Disciplinary Tribunal. Under the Bill, members of the public will no longer go to the Law Society or to the Bar Council to make complaints, as happens at the moment, but will instead do so through the Legal Services Regulatory Authority.

The Law Society has recently recognised that it would be "in the best interests of the public and the profession" if complaints about solicitors were no longer to be dealt with by the Society but by the new Regulatory Authority to be established under the Bill. The independence of the new Regulatory Authority and of its attendant complaints procedures is, therefore, fundamental to their success and to the aoidance of any perception that complaints about lawyers are being dealt with by lawyers themselves.

The complaints systems currently operated by the legal professional bodies are to be replaced by new procedures the independence of which will have to be reflected in the relevant recruitment and appointment processes. In closing the Second Stage debate on the Bill, during which the Deputy made some very useful contributions in support of the interests of the public and consumers, I confirmed that I am considering possible Committee Stage amendments to create an appropriately independent procedure for the appointment of members of the Legal Services Regulatory Authority. Similarly, I expressed the view that staff appointments to the new Authority would be better made by the Authority itself under a public competition carried out by the Public Appointments Service.

While the transition to a new and independent complaints procedure under the Bill will have an impact on staff currently involved in that area it will be open to such staff - who would obviously possess the relevant skills and experience - to offer to apply for positions advertised by the new and independent Legal Services Regulatory Authority.