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12-year NQ high as hybrid expands trainee options

A report from the Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA) shows that an upward trend in the number of people training to be solicitors or barristers continued last year.

The report shows that the number of solicitors newly qualified in Ireland were admitted to the Roll of Solicitors last year was the highest since 2011.

The figures are contained in the LSRA’s fifth annual report on the legal profession’s admission policies. 

It states that the concentration of legal practitioners in Dublin remains a feature of the legal-services market, and that there was some evidence of recruitment and retention challenges in the solicitors’ profession, as well as concerns about the supply of senior barristers in criminal cases.

Dublin dominance

The report shows that 561 new trainee solicitors enrolled on the Law Society’s Professional Practice Course (PPC) in 2023, continuing a generally upward trend in trainee numbers in recent years.

There were 467 trainees (83%) undertaking the full-time PPC and 94 (17%) on the flexible part-time PPC Hybrid introduced in 2020.

Most new trainees (90%) were aged 30 or under and nine in ten (89%) had a law degree, while 10% had another degree and 1% had no degree.

As in previous years, more than eight in ten new trainee solicitors secured training contracts with law firms in Dublin for their mandatory two year in-office training, a figure that the LSRA says reflects the dominance of the capital in the legal-services market.

‘In-house’ sector

A total of 772 solicitors were admitted to the Roll of Solicitors in 2023. Of the total, 548 (71%) were solicitors newly qualified in Ireland – the highest number since 2011.

In 2023, there were 416 practising certificates issued to first-time holders. A total of 11,871 solicitors held practising certificates in the year – up 2% from 2022.

The report shows that just over one-fifth of practising solicitors worked in the corporate or public ‘in-house’ sector last year.

Devilling drop

The report shows that 131 students started the King’s Inns Barrister-at-Law (BL) degree course in 2023 – a marginal increase from 130 in 2022.

A total of 163 people were admitted to practise and ‘called to the Bar’ by the Chief Justice of Ireland in 2023, allowing them to exercise a full right of audience before all courts.

This is up 11% from 147 in 2022.

A total of 72 barristers began their 12-month mandatory pupillage (also known as devilling) as members of the Law Library at the start of the legal year in October 2023 – down from 90 in 2022.

The total number of barristers on the Roll of Practising Barristers maintained by the LSRA stood at 3,051 at the end of 2023 – up 3% from 2022. Of the total, 70 were barristers practising as members of the Law Library.