The LSRA’s annual report for 2023 on the admission policies of the legal professions shows a “continuation of the generally upward trend in the numbers enrolling on professional training for solicitors and barristers”.

A total of 561 new trainee solicitors enrolled on the Law Society’s professional practice course (PPC) in 2023, with 467 (83 per cent) undertaking the full-time PPC and 94 (17 per cent) on the flexible part-time PPC Hybrid introduced in 2020.

The majority of new trainees (90 per cent) were aged 30 or under and nine in 10 (89 per cent) had a law degree, while 10 per cent had another degree and one per cent had no degree.

As in previous years, some eight in 10 new trainee solicitors in 2023 (83 per cent) secured training contracts with law firms in Dublin for their mandatory two year in-office training, reflecting the dominance of the country’s capital in the legal services market.

Eight per cent of new trainees did their in-office training in Cork. Six in ten (62 per cent) of new trainees had training contracts with a total of 20 large law firms.

A total of 772 solicitors were admitted to the roll of solicitors in 2023. Of the total, 548 (71 per cent) were solicitors newly qualified in Ireland, the highest number since 2011.

In 2023, there were 416 practising certificates issued to first-time practising certificate holders. A total of 11,871 solicitors held practising certificates in the year, up 219 (two per cent) from 2022.

Approximately one in five practising solicitors in 2023 (22 per cent) worked in the corporate or public “in-house” sector.

Meanwhile, a total of 131 students started the barrister-at-law degree course at the King’s Inns in 2023, a marginal increase from 130 in 2022. There were 56 full-time students and 75 part-time or modular students.

A total of 163 people were called to the Bar in 2023, up 16 (11 per cent) from 147 in 2022. King’s Inns barrister-at-law degree holders accounted for 135 (83 per cent) of them.

A total of 72 barristers began 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 stood at 3,051 at the end of 2023, up 93 (three per cent) from 2022. Of the total, 2,139 (70 per cent) were barristers practising as members of the Law Library and 912 (30 per cent) were not members of the Law Library.

Looking ahead, the report says the planned introduction of new legal partnerships in 2024 could have impact on the numbers admitted to the professions and the demand for and costs of the services of practising solicitors and barristers.

The report concludes: “The year under review saw a continuation of the generally upward trend in the numbers enrolling on professional training for solicitors and barristers. There were also more notable increases in the numbers of new entrants to both professions, but a decrease in the number of barristers starting pupillage in the Law Library.

“The concentration of legal practitioners in Dublin remains a feature of the legal services market, and there was once more some evidence of recruitment and retention challenges in the solicitors’ profession and concerns about the supply of senior barristers in criminal cases.”