A global development

Commercial, regulatory and other organisations worldwide are recruiting lawyers as ‘in-house’ practitioners. In-house solicitors are practising solicitors, just like their colleagues in private practice, but with just a single client – their employer.

Employment as an in-house solicitor in Ireland was relatively rare even 20 years ago. But during the last two decades, the sector has grown rapidly. For the first time, the Gazette has published a table showing the 20 organisations employing the largest numbers of in-house PC-holding solicitors in the State.

The largest in-house employer

Allied Irish Banks (AIB) is the largest employer of in-house practitioners in the State – and by some distance. Indeed, if AIB were a law firm, its 108 PC holders would make it the ninth biggest firm in the State – just behind Maples and Calder at 115 PCs, and ahead of Eversheds Sutherland at 103. More generally, it is striking how many organisations in the financial services sector are major employers of solicitors.

Ken Murphy is the Director General of the Law Society. Writing in the April Gazette, he analyses the latest figures relating to in-house practitioners, the gender breakdown in the sector, and where in-house practitioners are based within the State.

• Read the full article in the April 2018 Gazette

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