The opening day of the International Bar Association's annual conference in Dublin saw a speech by Nobel economics laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz urging lawyers worldwide to resist a diminution in access to justice.

"Inequality was growing before the financial crisis and has been exacerbated by it," he told the conference, reported by the Law Society Gazette. "In 2010, 93% of growth went to the top 1% – many of you in this room," he said, adding that the "challenge for the legal profession" is to ensure that "the promise of justice for all" does not become "justice for those that can afford it".

Europe, he said, was headed for a period of turmoil "whichever direction it takes". Austerity was not the answer, he insisted. It had been tried before and failed.

Also addressing the same issue of lawyers protecting rights in the face of economic austerity, IBA president Akira Kawamura had praise for the legal profession of hosts Ireland.

Quoted in a report in The Lawyer, he said: "It is noteworthy that, in recent years, the legal profession of Ireland has accomplished great work in defending the people's interests from the hardships of the global financial crisis. I think that the impact of the aftermath...was lessened by the hard work of Irish lawyers, and I admire them."

Picture of Joseph Stiglitz by Government of Thailand.