Standing Committee Reports
The Solicitors Acts state that the Council exercises the statutory functions of the Society, which are set out in the acts.
The Council may delegate the exercise of any of its functions to a committee established for that purpose. This allows the Council to appoint standing committees that exercise statutory functions on its behalf.
Click on the committee name below to view the relevant report.
The Coordination Committee oversees the budgets, projects, and policy outputs of the Law Society’s committees, task forces, and steering groups. Serving as a link between the Law Society’s committees and Council, it monitors committee membership, governance, and reporting to Council.
It ensures that the priority and direction of committee projects advance the Law Society’s overall objectives on behalf of the profession, the rule of law, and the public interest. The committee considers, and recommends to Council, the composition of Law Society committees and task forces. It also considers and recommends appointments to external bodies during the year.
The committee liaises with the chairs of Law Society committees and task forces to conduct horizon scanning and identify matters for Council’s attention. It assists in focusing the Council agenda towards strategic and fiduciary responsibilities, and oversees the implementation of Council decisions. It also fosters agility in decision-making and accepted governance standards.
Barry MacCarthy | Chair
This year, the Education Committee introduced the new CPD Scheme. This was the culmination of an extensive review of the CPD provisions. The recommendations of this review were adopted, after due consideration, by the committee and the Council and subsequently endorsed by the Minister for Justice.
The committee also instigated a programme of accreditation resulting in micro-credentials and accredited awards for trainee solicitors as they progress through their training. Professional Diplomas in Legal Practice were awarded after successful completion of the core component of the PPC 2022. An award ceremony was held for trainees who achieved an Advanced Diploma in Legal Practice, having successfully completed four advanced electives with the Law School.
Among other things, the committee approved regulations for Awards of Merit and Honorary Membership of the Law Society, which were subsequently approved by Council and have been submitted to the Department of Justice for the minister’s consideration. The committee continued its ongoing engagement with the Legal Services Regulatory Authority.
The committee funded the Access Programme, which provides financial assistance to FE1 candidates and PPC students from socio-economically deprived backgrounds. The programme currently provides support to 104 FE1 candidates and 91 PPC/ post-PPC trainees. A total of 218 solicitors have qualified with the assistance of the access programme.
The committee also approved the Small Practice Grant Scheme for 2024. Five grants worth €25,000 each will be available this year to assist rural practices with the cost of employing a trainee solicitor. In all, 21 grants have been awarded since the introduction of the scheme four years ago.
As well as this, the committee:
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awarded in excess of €175,000 in Law Society bursaries, benefiting trainees on various professional practice courses in 2023,
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reviewed the work carried out by the Diploma Centre, Law Society Professional Training, the Law School’s Psychological Services, and the Law Society’s Professional Outreach Programme,
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provided input and support for the project to build additional education premises and facilities,
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engaged with the Law Society of Scotland on the recognition of qualifications for solicitors between our jurisdictions, and
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continued work on implementing the recommendations of the Peart Report.
Finally, we were delighted that the Diploma Centre won ‘Best Learning/Professional Development Programme’ at the Association and Institutes Awards 2024 for its diploma in Aviation Leasing and Finance.
Sincere thanks to my committee colleagues, vice-chair Brendan Cunningham, the education officer, and the director of education for their hard work and valuable input.
Richard Hammon SC | Chair
The Finance Committee has a number of functions assigned to it. Its key function is the management of the financial affairs of the Law Society and its subsidiaries.
A number of subcommittees have been established to give special attention to specific areas. In 2024, the committee’s overarching objective is ‘Driving financial excellence: empowering and anchoring innovation, ownership, and strategic cost alignment’. The committee met 11 times in 2023/2024. It receives regular updates from the executive team and relevant experts who attend each meeting on a regular basis. These are provided through written reports and financial detail, both regular and bespoke. The committee is confident that it has the correct membership to provide the right level and calibre of information and challenge, and that the right reporting methods, structures, and work plan are in place to provide oversight on behalf of Council in respect of performance in the areas as set out in the Council regulations. The Compensation Fund, which is a separate financial entity, is not covered by this report.
Highlights
|
2023 |
2022 |
|
|
Society |
14,927 |
13,296 |
|
Education |
14,077 |
12,178 |
|
Investments |
5,531 |
5,089 |
|
Other |
1,821 |
1,589 |
|
TOTAL |
36,356 |
32,152 |
Group consolidated income
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Total income for the year was €36.3m, 13% higher than in 2022.
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General activities income was €22.1m (2022: €19.8m). Of this, PC, membership, and admission fees accounted for €14.9m (2022: €13.3m).
Group consolidated expenditure
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Much of the better-than-budget operational out-turn for 2023 was attributable to expenditure savings against budget. The reductions were due to a number of factors: a focus on cost management and control, which was supported by the Law Society’s procurement policy, and the strict budget management of payroll costs and projects. This resulted in an underspend on budget 2023 of €1m.
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General activities: overall expenditure was €21.6m, which was an increase of 11% (or €2.2m) on 2022.
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Education activities: operating charges, at €13.5m, were €1.1m or 9% above 2022.
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Other expenditure: overall other expenditure for 2023 was €0.6m.
Group consolidated surplus before revaluation and exceptional items
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General activities: 2023: €481k operational surplus versus prior year 2022: €371k.
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Investment-fund value increased by €1m due to market recovery after a difficult 2022.
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Education activities generated a surplus of €594k against a prior year deficit of €225k.
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Other expenditure relates to consolidated items.
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Overall operational surplus from general activities, investments, education activities, allocated funds reserves and group consolidated items is €0.7m.
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The financial statements show a loss of €6.9m, due entirely to a reduction of €8.75m on the revaluation of the development land held by the Benburb Property Co. Further analysis of these items is below.
Group consolidated deficit after revaluation and exceptional items
In the audited financial statements, operational surpluses/losses for the Law Society are incorporated in ‘group’ accounts, which include the Law Society’s subsidiaries. The group accounts give a full picture of the financial performance and financial position of all Law Society operations. Overall, in the audited accounts, the Law Society’s group made a loss of €6.9m (2022: surplus of €8.3m) after tax and exceptional items. There are two items for noting: (1) actuarial gain on the defined-benefit pension scheme and (2) fair-value loss on the revaluation of development land. The 2023 consolidated group loss of €6.9m includes the fair-value loss on the revaluation of the Benburb development land of €8.8m, which is a non-cash entry to reflect the site value at the end of 2023.
| Surplus / defecit |
After tax 2023 €000s |
After tax 2022 €000s |
|
Society |
481 |
233 |
|
Education |
594 |
225 |
|
Investments |
1,000 |
(1,800) |
|
Other |
(481) |
(249) |
|
TOTAL |
1,702 |
(1,903) |
Revaluations and exceptional items
1. Actuarial gain on defined-benefit pension liability
In accordance with the accounting standard FRS102, in 2023, the financial statements show a further gain on the defined-benefit pension liability of €0.2m, while in 2022 this was a significant gain of €10.2m. This adjustment is primarily driven by the bond rate used in the calculation of the scheme liabilities. The large gain in 2022 was also primarily driven by an exceptional increase in the discount/bond rate used to value the scheme’s liabilities. This, in turn, was closely related to the significant increase in interest rates during 2022.
2. Fair-value loss on the revaluation of development land
The Benburb Street site is a brownfield city-centre site that extends to 1.1 acres and is zoned Z5, allowing a variety of uses for potential schemes, including commercial and residential. As is practice, we engaged Mason Owens & Lyons to undertake an annual valuation of the land. In estimating the market value of the subject property, they have had regard to prevailing market conditions and sales transactions that are considered comparable with the subject property. In consideration of this information, they have adopted a base capital value per acre of €9 million per acre in line with the primary comparisons. They have applied a 15% premium to account for the superior development potential, cleared site, and reduced planning risk, resulting in a gross site value of €11,385,000. This valuation, as at 31 December 2023, is a reduction of €8,750,000 on the 2022 valuation.
Subsidiaries
The group structure includes a number of subsidiary entities that are effectively run on a break-even basis. The Law Club of Ireland, after subsidies, net of management fees of €26k, made an operational loss of €30k (2022: surplus €14k). Benburb Street Property Company Limited made an operational loss of €5k (2022: surplus €29k). The Benburb Street site value reduced by €8.75m from €20m to €11.25m.
Group consolidated balance sheet
Balance-sheet reserves include the two contingency funds: capital expenditure fund (€1.7m) and litigation fund (€1.1m). Both funds are designed to meet costs in these areas as they arise and avoid fluctuations in the practising certificate fee. The capital reserve fund amount of €4.6m is to meet future property-development costs. Additionally, there is a deficit of €0.8m in the LSRA levy fund, being the balance of money raised for this levy over the last five years since the imposition of the levy, and the amounts ultimately levied by the LSRA. This will be built up again over the coming years in a way that ensures some degree of smoothness in the levy to members. The remaining reserves have been allocated to meet specific costs and projects.
The FRS102 accounting standard requires us to show the pension scheme surplus/deficit calculation using the assumptions set by that standard in our balance sheet. In 2023, the scheme is showing a surplus of €1.3m. The scheme had a surplus of €727k in 2022.
Our net asset position at the end of 2023 now stands at €56m (2022: €63m).
Rosemarie Loftus | Chair
The committee’s remit is to fulfil the Law Society’s statutory obligations in relation to mandatory competent authority reporting of suspected offences relating to money-laundering, terrorist-financing, and relevant offences to the appropriate authorities. The committee met on a regular basis throughout the year to consider reports made to it. Any suspicion that moneylaundering or an offence of terrorist -financing has been committed by a practising solicitor (or any other person whom the Law Society, in the course of monitoring solicitors for antimoney-laundering compliance, suspects has been engaged in such activities) must be reported on by the Law Society to the State’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the Revenue Commissioners. Reports are filed with the FIU via goAML, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) mandated portal, and to the Revenue Commissioners via ROS, pursuant to the provisions of section 63 of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Acts 2010 (as amended). During the past year, the committee directed that 83 such reports be made.
The Law Society is also required, pursuant to the provisions of section 19 of the Criminal Justice Act 2011, to report to An Garda Síochána, as soon as practicable, information in its possession that it knows or believes might be of material assistance in preventing the commission of a relevant offence or in securing the apprehension, prosecution, or conviction of a person for a relevant offence. Relevant offences are listed in schedule 1 of the act, and include fraud-related offences. During the past year, the committee directed that 40 such reports be made.
As this will be my last annual report as chair of this committee, I would like to thank all the members and past members for their hard work over the decade during which I have been privileged to serve, carrying out a challenging and highly sensitive role. Even more so, we all owe a huge vote of thanks to the executive and secretariat of the Law Society’s Regulation Department for facilitating and assisting the extremely important work of this committee.
Dara Robinson | Chair
The function of the Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) Committee is to deal with all matters pertaining to the regulation of solicitors’ PII, including monitoring the implementation of the PII regulations and associated documentation, maintenance of a stable PII market, provision of guidance to the profession, and attending to PII queries arising. The committee reviews, drafts, and publishes updated PII regulations and associated documentation on an annual basis.
The committee maintains a regular dialogue with insurers participating in the Irish market for solicitors’ PII. The committee monitors the management and running of the Special Purpose Fund (the Assigned Risks Pool and the Run-off Fund) through the Special Purpose Fund Management Committee, which comprises representatives of the PII Committee, the Special Purpose Fund manager, and the two participating insurers with the highest market share by premium.
The committee provides information and documentation to the public and the profession through the PII page (www. lawsociety.ie/PII), which contains current and historic information and documentation on PII matters, including news items, regulations, minimum terms and conditions, the common proposal form, participating insurers’ agreements, Special Purpose Fund documentation, lists of insurers and brokers, and guidance notes. Information on current insurance details of firms continues to be available through the Law Society’s online firm-insurance details search facility.
The most recent PII renewal saw a further stabilisation of the market and a significant reduction in premiums. To put this in context, there was a 20% increase in the premium pool for the 2020/2021 indemnity period, a 5.5% increase for the 2021/2022 indemnity period, a reduction of 8.4% for the 2022/2023 indemnity period, and now a reduction of 16.15% for the 2023/2024 indemnity period. This brings premiums to their lowest level since the 2018/2019 indemnity period. It should be noted that the increase in premiums over the last few years was not caused by an increase in claims or a poorly performing domestic market, but rather due to an increase in base rate across all books of insurance arising from global insurer losses and solvency requirements.
This stabilisation of the market was brought about by leveraging our strong relationships with the insurers to gain a comprehensive understanding of the market, making clarifying changes to the minimum terms and conditions without reducing cover for the profession or the public, and the increase in competition through the introduction of two new A-rated insurers and one new insurance facility to the market. Firms that shopped around, rather than staying with the same insurer, saw the greatest reductions in premiums.
There are currently 13 insurers and three insurance facilities in the Irish solicitors’ PII market. No significant increase was seen this year in the number of firms closing or entering the Run-off Fund. There were no firms in the Assigned Risks Pool this year. We are currently in talks with a number of potential new insurers looking to enter the market in future indemnity periods in order to increase competition even further.
I would like to thank my fellow committee members for the continuing interest, support, and inputs into the work of the committee. A special mention must be made of the ever-competent, diligent, and expert committee secretary Sorcha Hayes for her hard work, assistance, and valuable input, without which the committee could not function.
Bill Holohan SC | Chair
The Regulation of Practice Committee has two primary functions:
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To administer the Law Society’s Compensation Fund, and
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to oversee the profession’s compliance with regulations regarding accounts, anti-money laundering, and other regulatory requirements under the Solicitors Acts 1954-2015 not assigned to other regulatory committees.
Overall financial performance
The income and expenditure account of the Compensation Fund reflects a surplus (representing an excess of income over expenditure before fair-value movements arising on revaluation of investments and tax) of €825,551 for the year ended 31 December 2023, as compared with a surplus of €577,587 for the year ended 31 December 2022. The increase of €247,694 is attributable to an increase in income of €2,431,871, reduced by an increase in expenditure of €2,183,907.
During 2023, the Compensation Fund investments incurred an increase in fair value arising on the revaluation of investments of €1,298,610, as opposed to a reduction in 2022 of €3,909,137. There was no taxation charge for the year. Accordingly, the surplus after fair-value movements arising on revaluation of investments and taxation was €2,124,161, as opposed to a deficit in 2022 of €3,431,187.
Income streams
Income in 2023 increased by €2,431,871, which included an increase of €681,021 in contributions receivable. There was also an increase in the income and return on investments of €395,704 and recoveries from defaulting solicitors of €1,335,206.
Expenditure
The increase of €2,183,907 in expenditure as between the two years is attributable to an increase in the provision for claims of €2,357,698 and a reduction in other expenditure of €178,959, due primarily to the cessation of negative interest bank charges.
Balance sheet
The net assets of the fund on 31 December 2023 stood at €26,903,829, as compared with €24,779,668 on 31 December 2022. The increase of €2,124,161 in the net asset position of the fund between the two year-ends is reflected in an increase of €825,551 in revenue reserves, together with an increase of €1,298,610 in the unrealised profit on the investment portfolio.
Developments since December 2023.
In the five months ending 31 May 2024, 67 claims were received, amounting to €3,113,191. Payments were made in the sum of €78,476 in respect of these claims, and claims amounting to €2,968,981 remain under consideration.
The Regulation of Practice Committee, following a rigorous review of the financial position of the Compensation Fund, the effects of inflation, and the reduction in the value of investments, decided that it was appropriate to maintain the Compensation Fund element of the practising-certificate fee at €700.
The net assets of the fund are valued at approximately €26 million as at 31 May 2024. Insurance cover for €55 million in excess of €5 million is in place for the year ending 31 January 2025. The transition of the Compensation Fund investments to the new portfolio was completed during the financial year. The new portfolio is designed to reduce the risk profile and concentrate on capital preservation, while providing a return above inflation. In addition, the transfer of money held by the Law Society on behalf of the Compensation Fund was commenced during 2023 and completed after the year-end. These additional funds have since been invested in the new portfolio.
Committee activities and outcomes
As the largest standing committee in the Law Society, with a vast statutory remit and considerable workload, the committee sits in four general divisions. A claims division meets in plenary session and also subdivides into specialist subcommittees/working groups. The committee met 49 times during the period reported on.
Arising from these meetings, the committee decided to:
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levy contributions amounting to €2,950 towards the cost of investigations,
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refer 10 solicitors to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal (six of these cases related to late filing of accountant’s reports),
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apply to the High Court pursuant to the Solicitors Acts in five cases,
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make one complaint to the Legal Services Regulatory Authority pursuant to section 51(5) of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015.
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issue directions to five practices pursuant to regulation 5(10)(c) of the Solicitors (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Regulations 2020, and
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issue directions to two practices pursuant to section 71 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 Committee Review Working Group.
Committee Review Working Group
As reported on previously, a project initiated was the creation of a working group comprising a cross-section of current committee members and Regulation Department executive staff to review committee procedures and present a report with recommendations by the end of the committee year. The final report is due to be presented at a special plenary session later this year.
Garry Clarke | Chair
