No, it is the Law Society who require the Irish exam and paralegals, or legal executives, are not entitled to be members of the Law Society. There is the Insitiute of Irish Legal Executives (ILEX)which acts as a governing body for paralegals, but it is an optional thing for people to join, and not a precondition like the Law Society is for solicitors. The ILEX recognises the Diploma in Professional Legal Studies in Griffith College, and as far as I know it is the only such course with this recognition. Employers now tend to look for people with this qualification over others because of this professional recognition. As regards the job, it is essentially the same as a solicitor's in many ways. Certainly where I work, in-house in the legal department of a bank, the 2 of us paralegals do the same work as the lawyers. In a practice there might be differences, such as in bringing a case to court. I think paras tend to do more of the District Court work than that which carries more responsibility. This is fair enough as a) the solicitors are the ones with the full qualification and b) they are being paid accordingly for that responsibility. Paralegals can be well paid, and certainly in my area (banking), the salary potential is very attractive. However, I will never be rewarded on the same scale as the lawyers, despite doing the same work and having the same responsibility, so I am therefore attempting to qualify as a solicitor.