In a year that has seen much speculation about the impact of Brexit on Ireland’s legal services market; we speak to Ken Murphy, Director General of the Law Society of Ireland, about the effects, and potential effects, of Brexit on the legal profession in Ireland.
Q: How does the solicitors’ profession in Ireland view Brexit?
Ken Murphy: The solicitor profession in Ireland views Brexit with great regret. We also see it as potentially highly disruptive in both political and economic terms, with at least the possibility that the consequences could cluster towards the dark end of the spectrum. In any case we have to get on with it and engage with what those consequences will be even though, at this point, they are completely unknown.
Like every other disruptive event there are both opportunities and threats and the Irish legal profession is looking at the opportunities within those consequences. There may be some increased economic activity, in the Financial Services sector for example, which might transfer from the UK to Ireland in order to maintain EU membership because Ireland most certainly will not be following the Brexit route.
We will remain the only common law English speaking jurisdiction in the European Union and that may have possible beneficial consequences for attractive foreign direct investment, but all of this remains to be seen.
Q: What is the procedure for England and Wales solicitors transferring to the Roll in Ireland?
Murphy: Since 1991, on essentially a mutual recognition basis, but also on the basis of an EU directive, it has been seamless for transfer of solicitors in England and Wales onto the roll in Ireland and vice versa. Hundreds of Irish solicitors have transferred onto the roll in England and Wales and now many hundreds have come on the roll in Ireland. They simply have to fill out various administrative details and provide qualifications and certifications, and for a payment of a €300 administration fee, they can transfer on to the roll with ease. This has benefited both the profession and the public in both jurisdictions for over 25 years and we would hope to see it continue.
Q: How many Brexit-related transfers have there been to date?
Murphy: The transfers began a little before the Brexit vote on the 23rd of June 2016, but taking into account the number of Brexit motivated transfers, there has been a huge increase in the average year transfer. We are currently at 1,100 for the last year, which we view as a huge number transferring into the Irish legal profession and of that number 220 have taken out practicing certificates. So although it has been a surprise to us, the solicitors are completely entitled and welcomed by the Law Society to do so.
Q: What have you been told about the motives for these transfers?
Murphy: It’s not for us to speculate why they are coming, so we have asked them.
We met with the leaders of some of the major firms including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer for example, and they were quite open about it. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer told us that it was the solicitors who practice their ACT section (Anti-Trust Competition and Trade Law), an essentially EU law focused practice area, who are transferring to Ireland.
The firms are doing this out of concern about the status that their solicitors will have when the UK is no longer a member state of the European Union. Status in dealing with the European Commission for example, status in terms of right of audience in the European Court of Justice which is confined to EU qualified lawyers and also they spoke openly about their concerns of legal privilege in EU investigations.
Whether their concerns are entirely cured by transferring to Ireland remains to be seen.
Q: What information do you have about international law firms establishing offices in Dublin as a result of Brexit?
Murphy: Distinguishing rumour from reality is quite difficult in the uncertainty that prevails in everything to do with Brexit. Rather than sit and listen to rumours, the President of the Law Society and I proactively went to see what we could find out.
We reached out to the two firms’ whose names were most mentioned in rumours both in the UK and Irish media, Pinsent Masons LLP and DLA Piper LLP. We were warmly welcomed by the senior leadership team in both firms and they both confirmed that they do intend to establish branch offices in Dublin. They have considered this for some time and had been thinking of this pre-Brexit but that Brexit had moved it up their agendas. They also said that the model they intend to follow is not to “acquire” an Irish law firm but to build from the bottom up. They would be recruiting Irish solicitors and relatively small numbers of their international lawyers would be coming to head up the office in Dublin and they intend to do this relatively soon, possibly in the next year or two.
About Ken Murphy
Ken Murphy has been the Director General of the Law Society of Ireland since 1995. Ken qualified as a solicitor in 1981. From 1983 to 1995 he practised in one of Ireland’s largest commercial law firms, A & L Goodbody, where he became a partner in 1990. He practised primarily in litigation and in EU and competition law including, for four years, in the firm’s Brussels office.
In October 2012 he completed a two-year term as the President of the International Institute of Law Association Chief Executives (IILACE) which is the worldwide Association of Chief Executives of Law Associations with members in more than 90 jurisdictions across the globe.
In early 2014 he was appointed Co-Chair of the Bar Executives Committee of the International Bar Association. He was elected in 2016 as one of the ten members of the Bar Issues Commission which represents the views and interests of bars and law societies world-wide within the International Bar Association.
About the Law Society of Ireland
The Law Society of Ireland is the regulatory, educational and representative professional body for all 17,000 solicitors on the roll in Ireland. It has approximately 220 staff and an annual turnover in excess of €30 million.
