The Gazette 1955-58

4. The following amendments shall be made in the Rules applicable to Part II of Schedule I to the Order of 1884 :— (a) In Rule I for the words " according to the present system as altered by Schedule II " there shall be sub stituted the words " in accordance with Schedule 11 hereto." (b) In Rule 4 for the words " are to be dealt with under the old system as altered by Schedule II " there shall be substituted the words " are to be calculated in accord ance with Schedule II hereto." 5. The following Schedule shall be substituted for Schedule II to the Order of 1884 :— " SCHEDULE II. For any business, not being contentious business, for which no charge is prescribed by Schedule I, or in respect of which the solicitor has, in accordance with clause 6 of this Order, elected to charge under Schedule II, the re muneration shall be such sum as may be fair and reasonable having regard to all relevant circumstances and in particular to— (1) the complexity, importance, difficulty, rarity or urgency of the questions raised ; (2) where money or property is involved, its amount or value ; (3) the importance of the matter to the client ; (4) the skill, labour, specialised knowledge and responsi bility involved on the part of the solicitor ; (5) the number, character and importance of the documents prepared or perused ; (6) the place where, and the circumstances in which, the business, or any part thereof, is transacted ; and (7) the time expended by the solicitor and his staff: Provided that— (a) Without prejudice to the provisions of the Solicitors (Ireland) Act, 1849, the client may require the solicitor to obtain a certificate from the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland certifying that the sum charged is fair and reasonable or, if it is not, what is a fair and reasonable sum and the sum so certified, if less than that charged, shall, in the absence of taxation be the sum payable ; (If) before the solicitor brings proceedings to recover costs on a bill delivered under this Schedule, he must, unless the costs have been taxed, have drawn the attention of the client in writing— (i) to his right under paragraph (a) of this proviso to require the solicitor to obtain a certificate from the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland, and (ii) to the provisions of the Solicitors (Ireland) Act, 1849, with regard to taxation of costs ; (e) the client shall not be entitled to require the solicitor to obtain a certificate from the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland under paragraph (a) of this proviso after the bill has been either taxed or paid ; (d) on any taxation of a bill delivered under this Schedule it shall be the duty of the solicitor to satisfy the Taxing Master as to die fairness and reasonableness of his charge ; and (e) if the Taxing Master allows less than one-half of the amount charged, he shall bring the facts of the case to the attention of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland." 6. The Solicitors' Remuneration General Order (No. 2), 1920, is hereby revoked. 7. This Order shall apply to all business in respect of which

a bill of costs shall not have been furnished before the lorh da y of October, 1957. DATED THIS IOTH DAY OF OCTOBER, 1957. CONCHUBHAIR A. MAGUTDHIR, Chief Justice. CAHIR DAVITT, President of the High Court. CECIL LAVERY, Senior Ordinary Judge of the Supreme Court. NIALL S. GAFFNEY, President, Incorporated Law Society of Ireland. On November I3th the Minister for Justice on behalf of the Government proposed a resolution in Seanad Eireann asking the Government to dis allow the Order. The motion was carried by 23 votes to 21 and by the Solicitor's Remuneration General Order, 1957 (Disallowance) Order, 1957 (S.I. No. 232 of 1957) the Government disallowed the Order. The following report from a special Committee of the Council was read at the Ordinary General Meeting on November 2ist. It is our duty to make a report to the Society on a matter which has caused the greatest concern not only to the Council but to every practising solicitor, namely the motion disallowing the Order of the statutory body under the Solicitors' Re muneration Act. The members of the Statutory Body are the Chief Justice, the President of the High Court, the Senior Ordinary Judge of the Supreme Court, and the President for the time being of the Society. In July last the Statutory Body proposed to make a General Order under the Solicitors' Remuneration Act, 1881, adopting in principle the system of costs for non-contentious business outside Court which has been in operation in Great Britain since 1953. This is a gross sum of such amount as shall be fair and reasonable and the tests of fairness and reasonableness are set out in detail. Basically the method proposed is that which is used in most other professions for similar work. The Order provided two safeguards which are peculiar to the solicitors' profession, firstly the client's right to obtain free of charge a certificate from the Society as to the reasonableness or otherwise of the charge, and secondly an over-riding right to have the bill taxed by the Taxing Master. A copy of the proposed Order was sent by the Statutory Body to the Department of Justice early in July. The Body intended to make the Order on 9th October. Late in July an anonymous circular was posted to certain members of the Oireachtas which, in the guise of protecting the public interest, sought to misrepresent the real effect of the Order Realising the serious nature of these misstatements the Council immediately circulated an answering statement of the facts and the interview was sought with the Department of Justice. On September 3rd the Secretary of the Society wrote to the Department repeating a verbal request already made in July to the Minister to receive a deputation. On 7th Septem ber the Society received a letter from the Department in timating that the Minister had seen the documents and " doubted whether any useful purpose would be served by receiving a deputation unless the Council proposed to advance further arguments ", 61.