The Gazette 1955-58

Society are obliged to maintain a Compensation Fund which will after 1960 be sufficient to provide full indemnity for defaulting Solicitors, bearing this fact in mind, and realising that the year 1960 is only approximately 2 years ahead, I feel myself that some steps will have to be taken to limit or possibly even to reduce the annual intake of solicitors to the profession. One of the principal matters affecting the profes sion during the last twelve months was in my view the proposed new Solicitors' Remuneration General Order, 1957, dealing with costs in non-contentious matters. As you are aware, last year a Sub-Com mittee of the Council was appointed to consider proposals for an Application to the Statutory Body under the Solicitors' Remuneration Act, 1881, on the subject of charges under Schedule II, S.R.G.O., 1884, for non-contentious business. The Council subsequently on receipt of a Report from its Sub-Committee formulated proposals which were circulated to the profession dealing with the suggested new system of charges under Schedule II analogous to the system which came into operation in England in 1953, and which was partly adopted in Northern Ireland in 1955. By direction of the Council, an Application was made to the Statutory Body which having con sidered the matter at several meetings decided to make the necessary Order which was duly drafted and finally approved. Before its signature by the Statutory Body an anonymous communication was sent to a number of the members of the Dail and Seanad, seeking opposition to the Order, and making a number of inaccurate and untrue state ments as to its general effect. When our Sub- Committee became aware of this document they drafted in my opinion a very excellent letter in reply containing a factual statement as to the true position, and this letter was sent by direction of the Council to the Minister for Justice, the Secretary of the Statutory Body and each member of the Dail and Seanad. The order was signed by the Statutory Body on loth, October but was dis allowed by a motion brought in Seanad Eireann by the Government just over a week ago. The manner in which this motion was brought and the majority by which it was carried are fully dealt with in the report of the Special Committee of the Council which was appointed to deal with the matter. I do not wish to make any further per sonal comment as I am the only Solicitor member of the Statutory Body which made the order which has been disallowed. The report of the Sub- Committee has been submitted to the Council to be read at this meeting for the information of 57

of the Council Sub-Committees by the members at all their meetings during the year. As President I can honestly and truthfully say that during the past twelve months the attendance at the Council meetings and the Committee meetings of the Council has surpassed all previous records. It has been an inspiration and a great encourage ment to me to observe this state of affairs. When I took office as your President at the end of last year I did so with considerable misgivings as to my ability to adequately do the work and stay the course, and as to my competency to fill the office and to sit in this Chair. I have been fortified and sustained by the help and assistance given to me by my two Vice-Presidents and the other members of the Council; their help and encouragement exemplified by their excellent atten dances at the meetings of the Council and the Committees has enabled me to do my work with increasing confidence and pleasure as the months went by. There seems to me no doubt whatever that the Council and the Committees attached to them, unlike the proverbial rolling stone, are all the time gathering more work and faced with more and bigger prob lems. As a result of this a special Sub-Committee has been sitting during the year to consider suggested changes in the form of our organization and to secure if possible the more effective working of the Council by reviewing the Constitution and Bye-Laws of the Society. There are still roughly 200 solicitors who are not members of our Society, and it is difficult to decide what is the best method of persuading them to join. They must be convinced of the advantages of being members of our Society, by their fellow- Solicitors who are already members, and by the Local Bar Associations getting in touch with them, so that in due course our Society would have almost 100 per cent, membership. One of the matters causing considerable concern to our Council during the past 12 months has been the over-crowding of our Profession. It is part of the duty of the Registrar's Committee to report to the Council on the number of Appren tices entering into Indentures and the number of new Solicitors who are admitted annually. Some time ago this Committee recommended that this particular matter should be kept under constant review by the Council, as they were of the opinion that this over-crowding of our profession may be primarily responsible for the number of complaints which come before the Society and the Disciplinary Committee. As you all know under the Solicitors Act the