The Law Society of Ireland has announced that, for the first time ever, over 10,000 practising certificates were issued to solicitors last year.
“At the end of 2016, there were 10,098 practising certificate (PC) holders. This is a 4% increase on the 9,707 PC holders at the end of 2015,” says Law Society of Ireland Director General, Ken Murphy.
“Also, for the first time, there is a tie at the very top of the list of largest firms in the state with both Arthur Cox and A&L Goodbody holding 275 PCs.”
“A major talking point is the arrival of the now 11th largest firm in Ireland. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer from the UK is one of the world’s largest firms and, while they have no plans to open an office in Ireland, their Brexit-related planning has led to their decision to take out 87 PCs in the state.”
The figures are contained in an article to be published in the January/February edition of the Law Society Gazette on Monday 6 February. The article, including a table of the 20 largest law firms, is below and attached.
This follows an announcement by the Law Society in December 2016 that it would welcome a record number of new additions to the Roll of Solicitors. 1,406 new solicitors were admitted to the Roll in 2016, beating the previous record set in 2008 by more than 500. More detail is available in the December 2016 Gazette.
Ireland has about 1 solicitor for every 450 members of the population; that’s compared to 1 for every 441 members of the population in England and Wales and 1 lawyer for every 270 members of the population in USA !
