Investing in the future
The Law Society’s Finance Committee ensures fiscal discipline across a growing and increasingly complex organisation, balancing prudent expenditure with strategic investment – all while modernising the Society’s governance structures to meet the profession’s evolving needs. Mary Hallissey reports
Managing the finances of a profession that has grown by a third in just 15 years demands more than careful accounting – it requires robust governance, rigorous oversight, and a willingness to modernise.
The Law Society’s Finance Committee, under the chairmanship of Paul Egan SC, has been quietly doing exactly that: overhauling systems, strengthening structures, and ensuring that every euro spent serves the profession strategically.
The results speak for themselves.
The committee’s priority is to ensure that its organisation’s coffers are robust and that there is sufficient capital for necessary investment: “That’s the fundamental task of any company director, to ensure that we do not run a deficit,” committee chair Paul Egan explains.
“Neither do we want to expand activity just because we happen to have the money. It’s about arriving at a balance. Our aim is to deliver the annual budget, in line with the Law Society’s strategy.
“There is now a maturity in governance and structures that is commensurate with the size and complexity of the Law Society as an organisation and the profession it serves,” he explains.
“There has been a necessary overhaul and updating of systems and structures in the Finance Department, and we still have some IT developments in train.”
Under strain
Just 15 years ago, the number of solicitors in the country was around two-thirds of what it is now. With such rapid growth in numbers since then, organisational structures naturally came under strain.
The Law Society has representative, educational, and regulatory functions.
It has complex governance that operates at various levels, including under its charter, the Solicitors Acts, statutory instruments, Law Society bye-laws, as well as Council regulations.
It is necessary, therefore, to delegate some of its responsibilities to various standing committees, effectively to the exclusion of the authority of the Council, the chair explains.
These committees report to Council on matters of their governance – but not, for example, on the details of operations or investigative matters.
Historically, the Finance Committee has had a portfolio of direct responsibilities, which, in turn, it delegated to subcommittees.
One of these is the Audit Subcommittee, which reports, not to Council (with the exception of once a year), but to the Finance Committee, the chair explains.
ARC light
In 2024, a governance review was instituted, the most significant result of which was the formation of a newly empowered Audit and Risk Committee (ARC).
The ARC will interact with external auditors and monitor and design the internal-audit process to ensure that procedures are properly followed.
This newly formed entity will report directly to Council, and has a non-solicitor as chair, Austin Slattery, who is a past-president of Chartered Accountants Ireland.
The Finance Committee supervises the Law Society’s ongoing accounting reporting function, making sure that expenditure only takes place where it has been properly approved, with the reasons for outlay rigorously examined – thus ensuring that it is adding value to the profession.
This is governed by a procurement policy that includes a matrix for expenditure approval across the organisation, the Law Society’s finance director (and the committee’s secretary) Gillian Cregan explains: “Expenditure outside the day-to-day requirements over a value of €10,000 requires a business requirement document (BRD) to be brought to the Finance Committee for approval."
In good shape
The committee meets at least five times a year in a hybrid format, with close to complete attendance.
“We are fortunate that, in the Law Society of Ireland, we haven’t had some of the catastrophes that have befallen certain other organisations, with projects that go wildly over budget, or unprovided-for pension contributions,” Paul explains.
“The Law Society pension is in good shape; there are rules on how we account for pensions and what sort of contribution must go in,” he adds.
“It’s the one area where, consistently, and to the frustration of advisors, we insist on being briefed repeatedly and getting reassurance that there isn’t going to be a deficit or an unexpected funding requirement.”
The Finance Committee currently has one vacancy (for an external non-solicitor member) for its cohort of 14.
Gillian says that the Law Society’s business partners ensure that costs are aligned to budget, and that the work has been done to get the right mix of skills present in the Finance Department to support them.
Team of the year
The Finance Department has been honoured for several recent developments during the past year.
Gillian says: “We won ‘Finance Team of the Year’ and ‘Finance Project of the Year’ at the Irish Accountancy Awards for our use of the NoFrixion payment system, which has streamlined the practising certificate renewal process.”
This has eliminated thousands of manually matched spreadsheet payments and improved the renewal process for the entire profession.
Expense management, travel booking, and room and event planning for staff has also benefited from the upgraded software.
Systems are constantly being examined and improved to enhance efficiencies and ensure delivery against the budget. “Our responsibility is to ensure we have robust financial monitoring in place to support our statutory duties,” Gillian adds.
“Ultimately, my job is to ensure that we enable the Law Society to deliver for the profession a budgetary process aligned with agreed strategic objectives, so that when we spend, we spend strategically and efficiently.
“Everything has grown in recent years – income has grown, the profession has grown, and our costs have grown in line with that. Hence, we budget to make small surpluses, to future-proof, and reinvest. We aim for prudent surpluses,” she explains.
Sustainable focus
Vice-chair Richard Hammond SC adds: “A significant focus of our work is ensuring that we’re able to meet our obligations under the Legal Services Regulation Act, in order to fund the Legal Services Regulatory Authority.”
“Our guiding purpose is sustainable financial stewardship,” Gillian adds. “We need to ensure that the decisions we make protect the Law Society and the profession, while working in line with our long-term goals.
"We live in a volatile world, so we need to ensure that we are reinvesting for the day when we need it.
“Currently, we are investing in our Blackhall buildings and facilities, and we have planning permission for an extension to the Education Centre.
"Separately, we have made energy upgrades – all to make sure that we provide better services and value for the profession.”
Gillian explains that outsourced catering and cleaning functions, as well as work by specialist trades, have now been rolled into one facilities-management model, with one supplier to support a variable cost model and improve efficiencies.
Strategic outlook
All suggested programmes for development and funding are examined in line with the Law Society’s strategy, the trio agree.
“One of our more important funds is helping to ensure access to the profession. We currently invest over €800k annually in providing supports to the profession, such as rural traineeship grants, CPD, and access programmes to legal training, to name a few,” Gillian explains.
Paul adds: “Our objective is to hold prudent reserves in order to absorb shocks and meet our statutory responsibilities, while ring-fencing funds for projects, such as the preservation of our heritage building at Blackhall Place.”
The return on investment is not solely assessed on commercial terms, but rather in how it can add value to the profession, as well as the long-term strategic benefit into the future.
Pilot platform
One such project is the development of the Law Society’s eConveyancing Platform – currently in pilot and testing mode – which will incorporate identity verification and qualified e-signatures, as well as anti-money-laundering checks.
Feedback, to date, has been very promising and is receiving wide support from pilot users in small, medium, and large firms.
“We focus very much on ‘onboarding’ the client, including section 150 letters, pre-contract-stage questionnaires, and digital contracts,” Gillian explains.
“The feedback from the workshops we have held with the public, particularly users who have recently bought a property or who have been part of a conveyancing process, has been phenomenal.”
The Law Society’s Tech Hub has also had a strong uptake from members, with 16,000 hits since its launch last August: “It’s clearly an area where there is a great need,” adds Gillian.
Solicitor services
“We encourage members to use the Blackhall facilities, which is why we have upgraded them,” says Paul. “Undeniably, there are some solicitors who will derive more benefit from the Law Society’s facilities than others.”
Those who rarely use the physical facilities at Blackhall Place avail of many other useful services, such as CPD, the Gazette, library, and educational and professional supports.
The chair refers to the Compensation Fund: “The reason why we pay into the fund is to allow solicitors to receive money for or from their clients: to retain it and pay it out – so to engage in money transmission.
"As a result, we have an exemption from financial-services law that would otherwise require us to be bonded and regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.”
The educational arm of the Law Society has a discrete budget. Legal education costs must be transparent and are set with the approval of the President of the High Court.
“Solicitors have been given a statutory monopoly by the 1954 Solicitors Act in drafting deeds, taking out grants of probate or administration to the estates of deceased persons, drawing up contracts for the purchase or sale of real estate or movable assets, and conducting litigation,” Paul explains.
“It is incumbent on the Law Society, therefore, to make sure that every solicitor has a basic competence in those matters. We must pursue excellence and pass it on.”
All three express their confidence in the Law Society’s ability to tackle anticipated imminent competition in the provision of professional legal education.
Member value
“Return on investment in the Law Society is not viewed through the same lens as in the commercial world,” explains Gillian.
“While there is, of course, an element of financial return, ROI in a commercial setting is driven predominantly by profit. For a professional body, the return is broader and is centred on member value, professional support, and long-term impact on the profession and on society.
“A lot of what we are investing in, such as our educational facilities – we have planning permission for a new development at Blackhall Place – and our Access Programmes, is as much about investing in the future of the profession as in the future of the Law Society.”
She references the Society’s significant investment in cybersecurity, which has helped block significant volumes of suspicious emails, as well as ongoing staff training and investment in new tools and software.
Law Society Psychological Services is another multi-year, long-term investment in the members.
“In addition, we want to keep the PC fee as steady as we possibly can. Unfortunately, there are areas outside of our control, such as inflation and regulatory fees that we have to collect.
“We don’t just look at things year by year – we’re very proactive in our planning,” the finance director concludes.
“We are guided by a five-year financial plan aligned with the strategic plan, which is reviewed and refined each year. This enables us to remain agile, responsive, and focused on the future needs of the profession.”
Mary Hallissey is a journalist at the Law Society Gazette.