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Becoming a solicitor in Ireland: Spent convictions

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  • 08-10-2018 3:35am
    #1
    OnandUpwards
    Registered Users Posts: 8 ✭


    Hi everyone.

    Please help it would be much appreciated.

    I was given a drink driving conviction 15 years ago in England. I got a 1 year ban and a fine.
    My sincere wish is to become a solicitor in Ireland.

    1) Am I able to become a solicitor given that I have this old conviction?
    2) Do I even need to declare it and at what stage and to whom will I need to declare it?

    3) I am hoping that it will be regarded as a “spent” conviction and I won’t need to declare it at all. Is this the case?

    Your factual knowledge and advice would be sincerely appreciated.

    Thanks again for all your help.
    Tagged:


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    #2
    Victor
    Registered Users Posts: 78,369 ✭✭✭✭Victor


    Are you a practicing solicitor in England & Wales?

    http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/justice/criminal_law/spent_convictions.html
    http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2016/act/4/enacted/en/html

    http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2015/act/65/enacted/en/html check this site also for the various Solicitors Acts - there doesn't seem to be a consolidated version, although the Law Society has a compendium available to members only https://www.lawsociety.ie/login?ReturnUrl=%2fSolicitors%2fRegulations%2fSolicitors-Acts-Compendium%2f

    https://www.lawsociety.ie/Solicitors/Regulations/


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    #3
    OnandUpwards
    Registered Users Posts: 8 ✭OnandUpwards


    I am not a practicing solicitor. I am wanting to begin studying for the FE-1 exams however I need to know if the conviction will stop me from being a solicitor and if I need to declare it before I begin studying.


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    #4
    MagicThree18
    Closed Accounts Posts: 84 ✭✭MagicThree18


    You were convicted in England and your conviction would now be considered spent under England and Wales's Rehabilitation of Offenders Acts 1974. Your conviction is also of a type that would be considered spent under the Irish regime. I would be absolutely flabbergasted if the Irish legislation discriminated against you.

    In any event, I done some research into this years ago as I too have a conviction (I'm now covered by the Act). The feeling I got back then was that The Law Society, when asking you to declare any convictions, were primarily looking for anything that would deem you unsuitable to become a solicitor. Again, given the relatively minor nature of the conviction, how long ago it was (it could be approaching 17-18 years by the time you have he FE1s done and a training contract secured) and the social policy move towards spent convictions in this jurisdiction, I'd be shocked if it was a problem.

    My opinion, I think you're covered on both fronts.


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    #5
    Peregrinus
    Registered Users Posts: 26,420 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    What MagicThree18 said. There are plenty of practicing solicitors who incur drink-driving convictions. It reflects no credit on the profession, but nor is it a striking-off matter. And I don't think it would be an exclusion matter for someone seeking to become a solicitor. What the Law Society are vigilant about are offences which involve dishonesty or untrustworthiness.

    For that reason I would err on the side of declaring it, even if you are not certain whether you are required to. Whether foreign convictions can ever be spent is something of a legal grey area. The Irish legislation doesn't deem UK (or other foreign) convictions spent, and the UK legislation has no force of law in Ireland. So there's at least an academic argument that a UK conviction is never spent in Ireland. Or, at least, there will be such an argument unless and until somebody makes a case of it, and an Irish court gets to rule on it.

    If someobody takes the view that you should disclose this conviction and you don't, that is a matter that goes to your honesty/integrity. I think that not disclosing this conviction but having it found out anyway could go worse for you than disclosing it.


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    #6
    GM228
    Registered Users Posts: 8,922 ✭✭✭GM228


    Peregrinus wrote: »
    For that reason I would err on the side of declaring it, even if you are not certain whether you are required to. Whether foreign convictions can ever be spent is something of a legal grey area. The Irish legislation doesn't deem UK (or other foreign) convictions spent, and the UK legislation has no force of law in Ireland. So there's at least an academic argument that a UK conviction is never spent in Ireland. Or, at least, there will be such an argument unless and until somebody makes a case of it, and an Irish court gets to rule on it.

    I wonder in the unlikely event of such a case would someone have any success trying to use the Doctrine of Renvoi or similar?

    Actually I'm not even sure if the principles associated with PIL could even be associated with such a type of case?


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