The Gazette 1967/71

As mentioned last year by my predecessor, the Minister for Justice intends to establish a Com mission to enquire into the entire question of Solicitors' remuneration, being of the opinion that the various Rule making committees are cumber some and unsatisfactory and with this we must agree. We have been assured by the Minister that we will have a reasonable right of representation on the Commission and furthermore that any findings will be laid on the table of the Oireachtas. How to assemble the necessary information for presentation to this Commission is receiving the active consideration of the Council through a special sub committee, who have been in touch with the Law Society in England, who as you know have already appeared before the Prices and Incomes Board there. A firm of accountants expert in the field of assembling the necessary information for nn enquiry of this kind has now been engaged and they in turn, through the Society, will be seeking the assistance of a cross section of Solicitors throughout the country for relevant information. When this stage has been reached the Council will be most anxious to receive the wholehearted co-operation of the profession. Rent Act 1967 The Department of Justice has arranged to bring in an amendment with retrospective effect to Section 10 of the 1967 Act to avoid a difficulty created by the necessity of getting Landlord's Consent to Assignment of long leases. I under stand that the Department expect to have the Bill introduced by next month. I trust that there will be no delay as this is a matter of vital importance especially to Banks, Building Societies, Insurance Companies and Mortgagees generally. Youth Care ] would like to take this opportunity of referring to the report which the Council's sub-committee on Reformatory and Industrial Schools in Ireland published last month. This memorandum has been submitted to the Government's Commission on Reformatories and Industrial Schools set up in 1967. In particular, I endorse the recommendation that a permanent team of experts be appointed to continuously advise the Government of the changing needs of deprived children committed to institutions. The problem of delinquency is. by its very nature, a complex and difficult field of

Solicitors being admitted is increasing. I need hardly say that it is always difficult to make it clear to the public that disbursements such as Land Registry charges, stamp duty,, Court and Probate fees are payments to the Exchequer and not to the legel practitioner. All these items, unlike Solicitors' fees, have risen sharply in recent years. I am glad to note the alleviation in certain stamp duties in the lower range introduced in the recent Budget. The Government Third Economic Programme There are some practises of the Society whether hallowed by tradition or contained in statutory provisions and regulations which may possibly be described as restrictive practices. There is, of course, a prevailing trend in public opinion against restrictive practises of all kinds. The Government Third Economic Programme does suggest that a number of our professional practices should be reviewed and we may expect in the near future legislation which will open up the professions to examination by the Fair Trades Commission. Included in such a review would be our professional monopoly both in regard to conveyancing and litigation, the question of fusion of the solicitors profession and the Bar and the Society's regulations which have been accepted by the Courts on the subject of undercutting, advertising and attracting professional business. It will be suggested that the level of professional remuneration and the method of charging should be examined both in regard to amount and method and that commission scale fees which relate the charges for professional service to the value of the property are inequitable. The suggested principle is that cross subsidisation whereby the profit on conveyancing is used to subsidise the loss on litigation or other unprofitable business is inequitable, and that no service should bear a greater charge than the cost of giving it plus a reasonable profit. It is quite clear that if this principle were adopted one of two things would have to occur. Either the cost of litigation and the numerous small advisory services which solicitors perform for their clients would have to be increased or alternatively it would become uneconomic for solicitors to supply these services. The State should intervene to subsidise them by legal aid or in some other way; otherwise the public interest would be bound to suffer and the first person to suffer would be clients of small means for whom such services insignificant as they may appear are vital.