Contract Award for appointment to a panel for the provision of legal services to NAMA

[corelli]

There is also a problem, whether real or perceived, with a kind of "it's not what you know it's who you know" culture in the legal system. I'm not doubting the statistics on fee-paying schools vs public schools but people who go to public schools most certainly do, a lot of the time, get good LC points and go on to do law; I would like to see the % of people who went on to do law from public schools vs the % of people in the upper echelons of the big law firms and the inner bar. What are the odds that the latter figure is higher than the former?

Entry into the legal profession requires relatively high points. Private schools provide a greater percentage of higher point school leavers, ergo, the legal profession has a greater percentage of people from private schools. Within the legal profession, as with most professions, there is also a tradition of children following their parents into the profession, the parents also coming from private education. I don't see the difficulty with the logic, to be honest. It does not presage some vast conspiracy in the awarding of state contracts.

It is, and you are right, the case that, for instance, the vast majority of the Supreme Court bench had the benefit of a private education. They tend to do better, it is true, but it is not some vast cultural/class conspiracy to promote ones own.

[evercloserunion]

Entry into the legal profession requires relatively high points. Private schools provide a greater percentage of higher point school leavers, ergo, the legal profession has a greater percentage of people from private schools. Within the legal profession, as with most professions, there is also a tradition of children following their parents into the profession, the parents also coming from private education. I don't see the difficulty with the logic, to be honest. It does not presage some vast conspiracy in the awarding of state contracts.

It is, and you are right, the case that, for instance, the vast majority of the Supreme Court bench had the benefit of a private education. They tend to do better, it is true, but it is not some vast cultural/class conspiracy to promote ones own.

It can be a problem without it being a conspiracy. It is true that people from privileged, fee-paying backgrounds tend to be more likely to go into law, I don't have a problem accepting that. What I am talking about is the perception that people from less privileged backgrounds even once they get into law, are less likely to reach the upper echelons of the legal profession than their fee-paying colleagues. If and where that is the case, it points to a system where upward mobility is based on contacts and background rather than merit. It's not a conspiracy, it is a culture, and one which is recognised by more than just cranks and nutjobs. In addition to that there is the cost of entering a legal profession, especially as a barrsiter, which acts as a further barrier to entry which affects less well off people disproportionately. I am in no way siding with the people you have been arguing with here, and if you look back you will see me disagreeing with them myself. But it is true that, there are barriers within the legal system which prevent people from the wrong background advancing as far or as fast as people from privileged backgrounds; this is a problem which has been recognised by many, inside and outside the profession.

[Roso25]

Entry into the legal profession requires relatively high points. Private schools provide a greater percentage of higher point school leavers, ergo, the legal profession has a greater percentage of people from private schools. Within the legal profession, as with most professions, there is also a tradition of children following their parents into the profession, the parents also coming from private education. I don't see the difficulty with the logic, to be honest. It does not presage some vast conspiracy in the awarding of state contracts.

It is, and you are right, the case that, for instance, the vast majority of the Supreme Court bench had the benefit of a private education. They tend to do better, it is true, but it is not some vast cultural/class conspiracy to promote ones own.

The children of professional wealthy parents get higher points in the LC generally because their parents can afford to send them to private school and get grinds for them
The only people who can become barristers in Ireland are those who have wealthy families to support them in the early years when they're not earning.