With a new version of a legal services reform bill due in December, the Irish government has been accused of giving in to legal vested interests by former member of parliament, Ivan Yates. 'Judicial reform, through the Judicial Council Bill, is…constipated,' he writes, in a newspaper article. 'Courts sit minimal hours while enjoying maximum recess breaks (throughout all of August and September).' But he is particularly concerned that the legal services bill will be watered down under the pressure of lobbyists form the legal profession. He says: 'The good name of genuinely motivated, cost-effective, competent legal practitioners is undermined by the reputational damage to the sector of defending the indefensible and resisting reform.' Source: The Independent.