Dual-speed, single outcome: regulating legal professional misconduct in Ireland
Dual-speed, single outcome: regulating legal professional misconduct in Ireland
Recently, the horizons of white-collar crime and deviance have widened to include a range of previously unaccountable or overlooked professions. In the Irish case, the misconduct of the two legal practitioner groups, barristers and solicitors, have been partly unified under a new, single regulatory regime. This paper highlights the different statutory governance arrangements prior to and the professions’ submissions on the new regime as well as outstanding structural critiques against it. Thereafter, the paper examines how, while the new regulatory apparatus is still in its formative stage, a reduction in punishment, increase in impediments against complaint-making, and loss of transparency characterise its operation so far. The Irish regulatory regime’s performance is situated in terms of existing comparative literature on the roles and performance of regulators and ombudsmen in legal and other sectors. In doing so, the paper concludes with arguments on the position of the consumer as complainant, the stress laid on a ‘lesson-learning’ approach, the power of elite groups, and notions of justice.
Moss, Brian
2d1ac95e-d17d-4e4d-9067-fa96f2ef08f2
9 September 2020
Moss, Brian
2d1ac95e-d17d-4e4d-9067-fa96f2ef08f2
Moss, Brian
(2020)
Dual-speed, single outcome: regulating legal professional misconduct in Ireland.
European Society of Criminology Annual Conference 2021: Criminology in a time of pandemic, Online.
08 - 10 Sep 2021.
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
Recently, the horizons of white-collar crime and deviance have widened to include a range of previously unaccountable or overlooked professions. In the Irish case, the misconduct of the two legal practitioner groups, barristers and solicitors, have been partly unified under a new, single regulatory regime. This paper highlights the different statutory governance arrangements prior to and the professions’ submissions on the new regime as well as outstanding structural critiques against it. Thereafter, the paper examines how, while the new regulatory apparatus is still in its formative stage, a reduction in punishment, increase in impediments against complaint-making, and loss of transparency characterise its operation so far. The Irish regulatory regime’s performance is situated in terms of existing comparative literature on the roles and performance of regulators and ombudsmen in legal and other sectors. In doing so, the paper concludes with arguments on the position of the consumer as complainant, the stress laid on a ‘lesson-learning’ approach, the power of elite groups, and notions of justice.
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Submitted date: 9 September 2020
Published date: 9 September 2020
Venue - Dates:
European Society of Criminology Annual Conference 2021: Criminology in a time of pandemic, Online, 2021-09-08 - 2021-09-10
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Local EPrints ID: 452850
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/452850
PURE UUID: b3c3607f-8ec4-452f-9df8-dcc222847e7e
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Date deposited: 21 Dec 2021 17:55
Last modified: 23 Jul 2022 02:26
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