‘Some legal fees are hard to justify, and to defend. Maybe I have been paid some of them myself’ – Director General of the IIEA Alex White

The business model of being a barrister is under strain, “and I don’t know how long it will last, frankly, as a separate profession”, says Alex White, former senator, TD and minister and, most importantly for this part of our discussion, a practising senior counsel. You may have little sympathy for those who have taken silk, but it’s rare to get a frank analysis of why one half of the legal profession, barristers, is losing out to the other half, solicitors. “An awful lot of work, particularly advisory work, is gone to solicitors’ firms from the Law Library,” is part of the explanation.

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