Solicitors Practising Certificate Regulations 2019.

• Statutory Instrument No.: 685/2019
• Published date: 03 January 2020

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 3rd January, 2020.

The Law Society of Ireland, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by Section 47 of the Solicitors Act 1954 (as substituted by Section 54 of the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1994 ), Section 82 of the Solicitors Act 1954 and Section 22 of the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1960 (as substituted by Section 30 of the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1994 ) hereby make the following Regulations:

1. Citation and commencement

(a) These Regulations may be cited as the Solicitors Practising Certificate Regulations 2019.

(b) These Regulations shall come into operation on the 1st day of January 2020.

(c) The Solicitors Practising Certificate Regulations 2018 are repealed with effect from the 1st day of January 2020.

2. Definitions

(a) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires:

“applicant solicitor” means a solicitor making an application for a practising certificate;

“application” means an application delivered to the Registrar by an applicant solicitor for a practising certificate for the practice year, pursuant to Regulation 4 of these Regulations;

“application fee” means the total amount of the fees specified by Schedule 1 of these Regulations paid to the Society by an applicant solicitor on delivery to the Registrar of his or her application;

“Authority” means the Legal Services Regulatory Authority;

“Compensation Fund” means the fund maintained by the Society pursuant to Sections 21 and 22 of the 1960 Act;

“duly completed application” means an application which has been duly completed by the applicant solicitor in accordance with the instructions set out therein, and the Guidelines which is accompanied by the full payment of the application fee;

“EFT payment form” means the form made available by the Society to applicants who wish to pay the application fee by electronic funds transfer;

“Guidelines” means guidelines in respect of certificate applications as may be published by the Society from time to time;

“Law Directory” means the directory of solicitors and firms published by the Society each year;

“legal services” means services of a legal or financial nature and includes any part of such services, and for the avoidance of doubt, includes (without limitation):-

(i) any investment business services or investment advice provided by a firm,

(ii) acting as personal representative or trustee,

(iii) acting as notary public,

(iv) acting as a commissioner for oaths,

(v) acting as liquidator or receiver,

(vi) acting as company secretary,

(vii) acting as director of any body corporate owned by the principals of a firm that provides trustee, nominee, administration or other services,

(viii) acting as arbitrator or mediator,

(ix) acting on a pro bono basis,

(x) acting as a personal insolvency practitioner,

(xi) acting as an expert witness and / or providing opinions as a professional expert,

(xii) acting as a patent agent,

(xiii) acting as a registered trade mark agent, and

(xiv) acting as a European trademark and design attorney;

“practice year” means the calendar year ending on 31 December in any given year;

“practising certificate” means the certificate issued by the Registrar in accordance with Section 46 of the 1954 Act certifying that the solicitor named therein is entitled to practise as a solicitor during the practice year as and from the date of the certificate;

“Registrar” means the registrar of solicitors for the time being appointed pursuant to Section 8 of the 1954 Act;

“registration fee” means the fee payable by a solicitor admitted to the Roll for three years or more on 1 January in any given year or the fee payable by a solicitor admitted to the Roll for less than three years on 1 January in any given year;

“Regulation of Practice Committee” means the committee to whom functions of the Society pursuant to Part V of the 1954 Act, as amended and extended by Part VI of the 1994 Act, have been delegated by the Council of the Society;

“relevant date” means 1 February each year;

“relevant form” means:

(i) the form of application for a practising certificate;

(i) the form of application by a solicitor in the full-time service of the state;

as may be published by the Society from time to time;

“Roll” means the roll of solicitors maintained by the Registrar under Section 9 of the 1954 Act;

“Section 61 application” means an application made under Section 49 of the 1954 Act, as substituted by Section 61 of the 1994 Act;

“Society” means the Law Society of Ireland.

“solicitor” has the meaning given in section 3 of the Solicitors Act 1954 .

“the 1954 Act” means the Solicitors Act 1954 ;

“the 1960 Act” means the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1960 ;

“the 1994 Act” means the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1994 .

(b) Other words and phrases in these Regulations shall have the meanings assigned to them by the Solicitors Acts 1954 to 2015 and the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 .

(c) The Interpretation Act 2005 applies to the interpretation of these Regulations as it applies to the interpretation of an Act of the Oireachtas.

3. Requirement to hold a practising certificate

(a) Every solicitor (other than a solicitor defined in Section 56(3) of the 1994 Act) who engages in the provision of legal services, or is deemed to engage in the provision of legal services, in the State shall be required to hold a practising certificate.

(b) A solicitor employed by a firm or non-solicitor employer and engaged in the provision of legal services shall be required to hold a practising certificate in accordance with Regulation 3(a) irrespective of any designations or titles assigned to that solicitor by the firm.

(c) Every solicitor employed by a firm or non-solicitor employer is personally responsible for ensuring that he or she complies with Regulation 3(a). A claim by a solicitor that he or she relied on his or her firm or another party to apply for a practising certificate shall not be a defence to a failure to comply with Regulation 3(a).

(d) A practising certificate shall be the property of the solicitor, regardless of who has paid the application fee.

(e) It shall be an offence and professional misconduct on the part of a solicitor who fails to comply with Regulation 3(a). Where a solicitor fails to comply with Regulation 3(a), the Society may take any one or more of the following actions:

(i) refer the matter to the Authority;

(ii) make an application to the High Court;

(iii) report the matter to An Garda Síochána; and

(iv) any other action deemed appropriate by the Society.

4. Application for practising certificate

(a) An applicant solicitor shall, on or before the relevant date:

(i) deliver or cause to be delivered, a hard copy duly completed application to the Registrar at the Society’s premises at George’s Court, George’s Lane, Dublin 7; or

(ii) submit or cause to be submitted to the Registrar, a duly completed application in electronic form and in such format as may be amended by the Society from time to time,

which application shall include a relevant form duly completed in accordance with the instructions set out therein and full payment of the application fee.

(b) The Society may refuse to issue a practising certificate to a solicitor who falls within Regulation 3(a) unless the solicitor has furnished to the Society written evidence of there being in force the prescribed minimum level of cover for indemnity against losses arising from claims against the solicitor as required by regulations in force under Section 26 of the 1994 Act or pursuant to the provisions of section 23 of the 1960 Act, for the duration of the practice year.

(c) The Registrar shall, on receipt of an application pursuant to Regulation 4(a) of this Regulation and on the Registrar being of the opinion that there is or are no appropriate and reasonable ground or grounds for not doing so, cause to be issued to the applicant solicitor concerned a practising certificate which shall be dated either—

(i) 1 January in the relevant year, where issued during the period beginning on 1 January in that year and ending on the relevant date, or

(ii) the date on which it is issued, where issued after the relevant date.

(d) Applications which are:

(i) not completed in accordance with these Regulations;

(ii) in accordance with the instructions set out therein;

(iii) not fully completed; or

(iv) submitted without full payment of the application fee;

shall be deemed incomplete and shall be returned to the applicant by the Society.

(e) Practising certificates shall only be issued following receipt by the Society of a duly completed application and full payment of the application fee and responses (which are deemed to be reasonably satisfactory) to any query raised thereon by the Society.

(f) Nothing herein shall prevent the Society seeking such further or other information or documentation as it considers appropriate prior to the issuance of a practising certificate.

(g) Only one practising certificate shall be issued to each solicitor in any practice year.

(h) If a solicitor’s practising certificate is dated after the relevant date and that solicitor has provided legal services in that calendar year before the date of the practising...