The Gazette 1952-1955

D. P. Gallagher (Dun Laoghaire); Daniel P. O’Connor (Naas). In your name I express to those who mourn them our deep sorrow and profound sympathy. It is with some sense o f disappointment that I find myself with few topics to address you upon that have not already been very adequately dealt with in the Council’s Report—my half-yearly address—and the Society’s monthly G a z e t t e . Nevertheless, I must confess that these sources of information are not available to almost 200 solicitors who are not yet members o f the Society. That such a state o f affairs exists in this year is worthy of comment, and I can only appeal to these solicitors in their own interest and in the interest o f the pro­ fession by which they live, to join the Society and so achieve that solidarity within our ranks which is so necessary if we are to wield the influence in the community expected o f us. I do not wish to .name any particular parts o f the State in which solicitors have failed in what I conceive to be their duty by neglecting to become members o f their own Society, but in at least three counties—two of them west o f the Shannon—the percentage o f practising solicitors who are not members o f the Society is almost 50 per cent. This should not be and I hope that on examination o f conscience the local Bar Association in all counties will insist on their members joining the Society. While making a statistical survey to justify these remarks, I was astounded to find that out o f a total of 1,338 solicitors holding Practising Certificates in the State, no less than 576 o f them are seeking their livelihood in Dublin. While the overcrowding of Dublin and the centralization o f business and administrative activities there has been the subject o f comment in other- places, I think it will interest you to know that almost half o f the solicitors in the country are crowded into the capital. While it is neither my duty nor desire to discourage the coming genera­ tion from joining our profession, it would be well that parents and guardians should think twice before launching their charges in such a competitive and overcrowded world as legal Dublin. In spite of my last remark, I think you should know that your Council is ever active in devising methods for the better training and education o f our apprentices. I have already expressed the view that much good would result if all our students sought a University degree while still in their apprentice days. It can be done without undue strain or without neglect of any o f the phases o f their training. A t the risk of wearying you, I repeat that arrangements have been arrived at with the Universities to provide courses o f instruction in what might be termed theoretical law leaving to your Society and its

teachers the task o f instructing our students in the more technical branches of law. Diligently pursued, these apparently different courses will complement each other and should produce solicitors to carry on our great traditions equipped both academically and practically to do their tasks to the satisfaction o f both their clients and the State. It is worthy of notice that in pursuance of this end your Council has recently instituted a new course of Lectures in practical matters such as Company Law, Company Accounts, Death Duties, Taxation, and Convey­ ancing. While conceding to no one in my admiration for our University Professors, I cannot visualize any o f them being equipped to lecture in such subjects which form part o f the daily round o f practising lawyers. Hitherto, our students have been almost self-taught in such matters or dependent for some instruction or practical examples from their masters. While a certain scattered working knowledge of these subjects was thus acquired, there should be a very marked improvement in their knowledge and skill having pursued a course o f instructions under the very competent lecturers chosen by the Society. On the other hand, it must be conceded that the Universities are the places where best can be acquired the theory, the history, and the philo­ sophical background of legal thought. While this Report is not altogether the’ medium for the expression o f criticism at some o f the “ frets and strains ” which irk the practising lawyer, I hope my voice will be heard in the proper quarters when I say that some inconvenience can well arise following the extraordinary speed at which legis­ lation is sometimes enacted. Some Bills involving important matters o f principle and o f interest to bodies such as ours, are introduced and have passed a second reading almost as soon as the green print has been available to the public. While I do not propose to particularise or to enumerate such occasions, I may mention in passing that this criticism, if it can be called criticism, applies in recent months to the Land Bill, The Arbitration Bill, and the recent Local Government Bill. Surely our legislators should appreciate that we and similar bodies in close touch with the public are in a unique position through our contact with the public to consider and to weigh such measures and to express any relevant views before they become law. I cannot conceive that the most hide-bound servant o f the State or conservative politician could or would object to hearing the views o f a profession such as ours forming as it does one of the most important links in our social and commercial chain. Is it too much, therefore, to ask that whenever possible the green print of Bills should be available and on sale to the public at the Government Publications Office 47