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Exploring Probate Trends in Ireland: A Growing Opportunity for Law Firms

Jan 23

3 min read

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I've spoken to 50+ Irish law firms over the past 5 month and noticed some interesting trends in probate itself and firms adoption of new technologies as they gear up for an increasingly digital future.


My first observation is that solicitors practicing probate are some of the nicest people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. This makes sense, after all, their clients often come to them during emotionally challenging times. Empathy and support are essential to providing a positive client experience. What’s also been clear is how deeply they care about the workings of our legal system and their openness to considering new ways to improve it for everyone.


With an aging population and increasing wealth transfers, the demand for probate services are on the rise representing opportunities and challenges for law firms, regardless of size or specialisation. Every firm, large or small, that we spoke to expressed a desire to bring on more probate clients, recognising the big opportunities that lie ahead. This article will highlight what we are seeing in firms.


Young firms

Younger law firms in Ireland typically don’t handle a lot of probate work. Without a large will book or a senior solicitor bringing probate clients with them, these firms often focus on other practice areas. However, when a probate case does come their way, they frequently find themselves without the systems or deep expertise to handle it efficiently or with confidence. Despite this, working through the case often highlights the untapped potential in probate. Many see the opportunity to build a profitable service offering if they can deliver probate cases smoothly and effectively.


General Practice Solicitors: Balancing Priorities

For general practice solicitors with a significant amount of probate, probate often falls into the “good enough” category. Most have some system (usually excel plus some precedents) in place to handle probate cases, though these are rarely optimised for efficiency or reducing admin time. With more urgent areas like conveyancing demanding immediate attention, probate can sometimes take a back seat.


However, many of these firms recognise the broader value probate brings as part of a client’s lifetime journey. Drafting a client’s will often leads to probate when the client passes away, which in turn may lead to conveyancing, creating a chain of interconnected opportunities. The challenge these solicitors face is ensuring that probate cases are handled with the care and efficiency they deserve, not just for the matter at hand but for the long-term client relationship.


Specialised Probate Solicitors: Striving for Scalability and Efficiency

For solicitors specialising in probate, managing a high volume of cases is part of their everyday routine. Many have established systems that work well for their current operations, but these systems often struggle to scale. When new or junior staff join the team, they can find it difficult to get up to speed on ongoing cases, reducing productivity and the firm’s return on those employees.


Additionally, these firms face challenges in keeping their systems and precedents up to date. When changes occur, such as updates to probate forms or new regulatory requirements, they must manually revise their processes, increasing the risk of errors if cases are not consistently updated. Collaboration can also be a hurdle, with no good solutions for quickly sharing the most relevant information among colleagues or providing timely updates to clients.


Simple Probate: Your Probate Partner

Simple Probate is designed to help law firms overcome all of these challenges and unlock the opportunities probate has to offer. To see how we can support your firm, book a demo today via the button in the top-right corner.

Jan 23

3 min read

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17

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