Trainee solicitor numbers up while barrister students decline

The Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA) this week published Pathways to the Professions 2022: Annual Report on Admission Policies of the Legal Profession, its fourth such annual report on admissions.

It shows there were a total of 11,652 solicitors holding practising certificates at the end of 2022, a two per cent increase on the previous year, and 2,957 barristers on the roll of practising barristers, an increase of one per cent.

Notably, there were 560 trainee solicitors enrolled on the Law Society’s professional practice course (PPC) in 2022, the highest intake of PPC trainees in 15 years. Of these, 469 were undertaking the full-time PPC and 91 were on the hybrid PPC.

In comparison, 130 students began the barrister-at-law degree at the King’s Inns, down slightly on the previous year. Of these, 57 were full-time students and 73 were on the modular course.

The number of new barrister students in 2022 is just three per cent higher than the average for the seven previous years, while the solicitor trainee intake is 24 per cent higher.

The LSRA report concludes: “The year saw a waning of the joint impacts of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of number and patterns of admissions to the solicitors and barristers professions in Ireland.”