THE DIRECTOR general of the Law Society has stated that it is impossible to envisage that most of the hundreds of solicitors now unemployed will find work as solicitors again in today’s market.
In Ennis to speak at a meeting of the Clare Law Association, Ken Murphy made the gloomy prediction, stating that the disappearance of property-related work for solicitors “in such a sudden and shocking fashion has been pretty devastating”.
Mr Murphy said: “Many of the unemployed solicitors will inevitably seek careers outside of the legal profession, because it is almost impossible to envisage for most of those unemployed that they will find work as solicitors in today’s market.”
In response to what Mr Murphy called the “severe impact” of the recession on the legal profession, the Law Society’s career development officer is to commence work on May 5th.
Mr Murphy confirmed that there were 78 applications for the post, adding that he wasn’t too surprised by the volume of applications given the publicity surrounding the job advert.
On the appointment of the career development officer, Mr Murphy said: “We say we can’t invent or indeed find jobs for anyone. But what we can do is to help to equip people with the skills and information that will assist them to find jobs for themselves.”
He added: “We have to be wary of over-promising in relation to the new post. We keep emphasising the post is a demonstration of our solidarity with the profession and that it gets beyond hand-wringing and it does something practical and of value.”
Mr Murphy said that the hundreds of unemployed solicitors “is a phenomenon we have never had before”.
Mr Murphy said that the conveyancing work carried out by solicitors that fell off a cliff in slow motion from 18 months to a year ago “doesn’t really have a pulse now”.
He said: “The profession has been much more vulnerable to the ravages of recession this time than was ever the case in the past and is suffering very badly.”
He pointed out that the numbers of solicitors operating had doubled in the past decade, and between 2002 and 2006 alone the number of trainees entering the profession doubled.
Mr Murphy stated: “We are in touch with the profession on a daily basis at all levels, so we are well aware of how serious things are.”
He added that he was travelling around the country at the moment, meeting different law associations “and the mood and content of meetings is completely dominated by the economy”.
In addition to the numbers of solicitors unemployed, Mr Murphy said: “There is a great deal of underemployment where there is staff working part-time.”
He added: “It is not complete despair. There are certain types of legal work which are not affected by the downturn in the economy: probate and administration of estates, crime and usual litigation work.”
Mr Murphy said, “The one thing that is heartening, that despite its reputation for conservatism, the legal profession adapts very well to change.”
He added that the long-term prospects of the legal profession were good, with the political system continuing to provide ever-increasing legislation of ever-increasing complexity that is the raw material of law.
