The Gazette 1955-58

realise that in the normal course of events they will attend the first Law examination in Autumn 1957 which in effect will be a final examination in the law of property, real and personal, contract and tort. This will be a detailed and searching exam ination in these subjects and I would ask members who have apprentices now commencing to bring the regulations to their notice so that they will prepare themselves for this examination. By ex cluding practice and book-keeping from the course for the first law examination the Society has given students an opportunity of concentrating on the theory subjects during the first two years of the course. I would recommend that each apprentice should obtain a copy of the regulations and study them as soon as possible. The Secretary will be glad to answer queries from apprentices arising out of the regulations. The transitional provisions of the regulations have been so framed as to provide that an appren tice who passes the Intermediate examination under the present regulations will attend the present final examination which will be continued until Spring 1960. In the normal course an apprentice who comes within the new regulations as regards the first law examination will attend the second and third law examinations which will commence in Autumn 1960. The new examination in book keeping will commence in Autumn 1956 and there after will cease to be part of the Intermediate exam ination. Both the lectures and the examination in book-keeping will be conducted by the lecturer provided by the Rathmines School of Commerce to whom I have already referred. The Solicitors' Accounts Regulations 1955 were made by the Council on November 3rd and will come into operation on ist January 1957. They are now or shortly will be on sale at the Government Publications Office. Solicitors taking out practising certificates on and after 6th January 1957 will be required to file with the Society a declaration that they have complied with the Solicitors' Accounts Regulations, both as regards the lodgment of monies belonging to clients to separate bank accounts marked " client account " and the main tenance of a proper office book-keeping system showing all dealings with clients' monies and distinguishing such monies from the solicitors' own monies. These Professional Practice Regulations were made last July and were printed in the Society's Ga2ette in August last. They have statutory effect and copies may be obtained at the Government Publications Sales Office. The effect of the regula tions is to make certain unprofessional practices illegal and a breach of the regulations will also be

misconduct within the meaning of the Solicitors' Act, 1954. The regulations provide that the Com mittee or Council of a Bar Association on receiving information which, if proved, would constitute a breach by a solicitor of the regulations or mis conduct within the meaning of the Act shall bring such matters to the notice of the Society for investi gation. Needless to say it is not the object of the Council in making these regulations to assume the office of a jealous invigilator prying into solicitors' private affairs or seeking to supervise every detail of their conduct. Indeed the regulation dealing with the Bar Associations shows that the Council will rely to an even greater extent on the local Bar Associations to deal with unprofessional con duct and the object of the regulations is to strengthen the authority of the Bar Association in dealing with unprofessional activities of the marginal type of practitioner which are a nuisance to his professional brethren and a menace to the public. These regu lations contain nothing which has not for many years been part of the recognised unwritten code of professional conduct of all reputable solicitors. The Council will as soon as possible send to each solicitor in the country a booklet containing the text of the Solicitors' Accounts Regulations and the Professional Practice Regulations with explanatory notes. Many of you have no doubt already seen the maps and books of reference deposited in the City Hall relating to the draft town plan published by the Dublin Corporation. For many years solicitors and their clients have been vaguely aware of the Town Planning activities of Local Authorities but we have regarded it in the past as a long term project which might never come to fruition. Now that the Corporation have decided to move in the matter it behoves solicitors to study the town planning legislation and regulations as well as the Town Plan itself in order to be in a position to advise clients as to the restrictions which will be imposed by the plan if adopted on the development and use of City property. In fact looking to the future it seems to me that the publication of the town plan may mark an epoch in our conveyancing practice almost as important as the Conveyancing Act 1881 which changed the whole system. In future it will be necessary before allowing a client to sign a contract for sale or purchase property by auction to ascertain from the Dublin Corporation whether any restrictions on the use or development of the property have been imposed by the town plan. This will mean reading the maps and studying the books of reference or alternatively ascertaining by enquiry from the local authority whether the property is affected. The Society has already applied 53