Brexit Bulletin—practising certificates only for those in Ireland, says Irish Law Society

Article summary

The Law Society of Ireland has announced that practicing certificates will now only be granted to solicitors with a presence in Ireland, meaning that Irish-qualified solicitors practising in another jurisdiction, for example, England or Wales, will not be issued with an Irish practising certificate ‘unless they can demonstrate in the course of their applications that they practise (or intend to practise) in Ireland from a physical establishment in Ireland’. This announcement comes after a review conducted by the Law Society of Ireland into the regulatory framework for issuing practising certificates to lawyers based outside of the jurisdiction concluded that ‘under the Solicitors Acts 1954 to 2015 and the regulations implementing those statutes, a practising certificate only entitles a solicitor to practise in Ireland from an establishment in Ireland. The review also confirmed that a practising certificate can only be issued to a solicitor on that basis’.