The document discusses potential changes to the legal education system in Ireland under the proposed Legal Services Regulation Bill of 2011. It currently involves three stages - academic, professional, and practical - delivered through the Honorable Society of King's Inns for barristers and the Law Society of Ireland for solicitors. The bill would create a new regulatory authority with powers to review and recommend changes to admission requirements, providers of education, curriculum standards, and accreditation of institutions. It could liberalize the market for legal education and training beyond the current monopolies. The bill aims to improve standards but may challenge the traditional systems, requiring providers to adapt to new market forces and consumer demand.

1. ‘The Potential Effect of the Legal
Services Regulation Bill 2011 upon
Law Teaching in Ireland’
Dr Maeve Hosier
Lecturer in Law
m.hosier@mdx.ac.mu
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3. The ‘Dale Farm’ Travellers’ Eviction at Essex, North East
London, October 2011

4. The Present System of Legal Education
3 Stages
Barristers
Honorable Society of King’s
Inns (HSKI)
• Academic: An appropriate law
degree/King’s Inns Diploma in Legal
Studies
• Professional: Degree of barrister-at-
law
• Practical: Pupillage (practical
education and training under the
supervision of an experienced
barrister)
Solicitors
Law Society of Ireland (LSI)
• Academic: A law degree from any
Irish/UK awarding institution
• Professional : The Final Examinations,
Parts I, II and III are taken throughout
the course of the practical training
• Practical: The Professional Practice
Course must be attended during the
Training Contract, whereby trainee
solicitors obtain practical experience in
a firm
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7. Irish Travellers - A Nomadic People

8. The Main Provisions of the LSRB 2011
5 New Regulatory Bodies
• The Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA)
• The Complaints Committee of the LSRA
• The Legal Services Disciplinary Tribunal
• The Office of the Legal Costs Adjudicator
(OLCA)
• The Advisory Committee on the Grants of
Patents of Precedence
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9. LSRB 2011 section 12
The Authority is required to regulate the provision of legal services and to ensure
the maintenance and improvement of standards in that regard (s 12 (1)). It may
also review and make recommendations in relation to:
• the admission requirements to the legal profession, and the availability and
quality of legal education and training, including on-going training (s
12(2)(a)(i))
• how legal education and training is provided, and by whom it is provided (s
12(2)(a)(ii)(II))
• the curriculum arrangements for the provision of clinical legal education, the
teaching of legal ethics, negotiation skills, ADR and advocacy (s 12(2)(ii)(II))
It will also be responsible for reviewing policies of LSI and BCI (sic) regarding the
dissemination of information regarding education and accreditation requirements
for the legal profession (s 12(2)(a)(i))
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10. LSRB 2011 s 32
The Authority must prepare a report (for the Minister) in relation to the
education and training arrangements for legal practitioners (s 32(1)(a)) which
will include:
• a review of existing arrangements for the education and training of legal
practitioners, with recommendations in relation to the arrangements
which the Authority considers should be in place for its provision, and for
the accreditation of bodies to provide legal education and training (s
32(3)(b))
• recommendations regarding appropriate standards of education and
training required for the award of legal professional qualifications, and for
monitoring standards in relation to such awards (s 32(3)(c)(i),(ii))
• recommendations regarding the scope and content of the curriculum for
courses in legal professional education and training, including the teaching
methodology of legal education, legal ethics, negotiation, ADR and
advocacy (s 32(3)(c)(iii))
• the identification of requisite standards for the award of legal professional
qualifications (s 32(3)(c)(v))
• recommendations regarding the accreditation of institutions providing
courses of legal professional education and training (s 32(3)(c)(vi))
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11. Top Secret!!!
The General Rules of the Honorable Society of
King’s Inns (December 2009)
Rule 2. The main objects of the Society shall be:
(i) The promotion and advancement of learning in the law
(ii) The education and training of members of the Society in
the law
(iii) The protection and furtherance of the reputation and
standing of the degree of Barrister-at-Law
(iv) The preservation of the heritage that is comprised in the
King’s Inns, its buildings, library, furnishings and environs
(v) To ensure the fitness of persons to practise as or to hold
themselves out as barristers prior to and after their call to
the Bar
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12. LSRB 2011 – A Potential Revolution in
the Provision of Legal Education?
• The Bill creates the potential for
the liberalisation of the market in
professional legal education and
training which has traditionally
been monopolised by the HSKI
and LSI.
• This will provide new
opportunities for Universities and
other Third Level Colleges
• At the academic stage of
education, greater prominence
will be given to the teaching of
practical legal education, legal
ethics, negotiation skills, ADR and
advocacy
• The HSKI and the LSI may well be
the greatest losers in the Brave
New World of Legal Education
envisaged in the LSRB 2011
• The motto of the HSKI is nolumus
mutari (we shall not change/be
changed). However, the HSKI will
face a dilemma: remain true to
the motto, or embrace the
philosophy of the market place,
and respond to ‘consumer
demand’ and ‘market forces’.
• The LSI generally responded
reasonably positively to prospect
of the changes which may follow
upon enactment of the LSRB
2011
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13. Dear Minister Fitzgerald…
Prior to the enactment of radical changes to the
present system of legal education, a thorough
review of the present arrangements should be
conducted:
• to identify the strengths and weaknesses of
the current system
• to develop a clear understanding of how
available resources may be most effectively
applied to bring about desired the change
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14. The Travelling Community
• Christian Brothers High School Clonmel v Mary
Stokes(on behalf of her son John Stokes) [2011]
IECC 1
• Mongans v Clare Co Council DEC S2008 – 039
• Clare Co Council v Director of Equality
Investigations & Another [2011] IEHC 303
• O’Leary & Others v Allied Dumecq & Others
Unreported 29 August 2000
• Mandla v Dowell Lee [1982] UKHL 7
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15. UN Basic Principles on the Role of
Lawyers, Article 11
• “In countries where there exist groups, communities or regions
whose needs for legal services are not met, particularly where such
groups have distinct cultures, traditions or languages or have been
victims of past discrimination, Governments, professional
associations of lawyers and educational institutions should take
special measures to provide opportunities for candidates from
these groups to enter the legal profession and should ensure that
they receive training appropriate to the needs of their groups”
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16. Conclusion
The success of the legal education regime
change envisaged in the LSRB 2011 may be
measured in part by the extent to which
minority groups such as the Travelling
Community are included, and provided for,
in the new legal educational framework.
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17. Useful Websites
www.careersportal.ie
www.itmtravlie
www.kingsinns.ie
www.lawlibrary.ie
www.lawsociety.ie
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