The Law Society has introduced a new Competency Framework for Solicitors in Ireland to inform all aspects of solicitor training and CPD programmes.

The standards of professional performance and the professional values to which the Law Society wants the legal profession to aspire often take the form of competency frameworks.

Matrix

These are a matrix of standards, values, attitudes and ethics. In 2020, the Law Society of Ireland and Finuas Skillnet initiated a project to devise a new framework of professional competence for solicitors in Ireland. 

After a process of extensive consultation with the profession and other stakeholders, the Law Society’s Education Committee approved the comprehensive Competency Framework for Solicitors in Ireland.

Setting the standard

The framework sets out day-one competence in the practice of solicitors in Ireland, beginning with the overarching threshold definition of professionalism, which establishes a holistic baseline level of competence that should be achieved by all solicitors at the point of qualification.

Expectations

That definition sets out expectations that clients and other stakeholders can reasonably assume of all Irish solicitors wherever they practice. 

It is envisaged that the Competency Framework will be very much a ‘living document’, regularly reviewed and updated to align with changes occurring in the legal professions and in society in Ireland. 

Today’s launch of the framework at the Law School will be first step in an ongoing conversation with the profession to ensure that the Competency Framework fully informs all aspects of training programmes.