Law Society of Northern Ireland

The Law Society of Northern Ireland was founded in 1922 and, under the Solicitors (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 (as amended by the Solicitors’ (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Order 1979), it acts as the regulatory authority for solicitors in Northern Ireland with responsibility for:

• education,
• accounts,
• discipline, and
• professional conduct.

Unlike the Law Society of England and Wales whihc is purely representative, its current duties are to represent and regulate the solicitors’ profession in Northern Ireland with the aim of protecting the public. It operates through an elected Council of thirty members, all of whom are practising solicitors who serve on a voluntary basis.

A summary of the Law Society of Northern Ireland’s Regulatory Framework can be found on their web site at www.lawsoc-ni.org/lawView/regframe1.htm, which, inter alia, states that the Law Society is responsible for “regulating professional standards, the propriety of solicitor’s professional conduct in general and the handling of client’s funds in particular, professional indemnity insurance and client compensation requirements, as well as the handling of complaints about solicitors made by their clients”.

The contact details for the Law Society of Northern Ireland are as follows:

Law Society of Northern Ireland
96 Victoria Street,
Belfast,
BT1 3GN

Tel: 028 9023 1614
Fax: 028 9023 2606

Website: www.lawsoc-ni.org/
Email: info [Email address: info #AT# lawsoc-ni.org - replace #AT# with @ ]