The Gazette 1974

deserve and are entitled to be. We are one of the few, if not in fact the only, truly independent professions. We are not in any way a State service nor are we dependant for our remuneration as are so many of our brother professions upon the State. We are not an arm of Government although many of our members are in the Government service but as such the practising legal profession is totally and essentially independent from all the organs of the State and in our own way we have a type of independence which is similar to that of the judiciary and this is indirectly recognised from the fact that we are by statute officers of the Court and as a result are in a privileged position which does not have any real comparison with any other profession. In the last resort it must never be forgotten that we are by virtue of our total independence from the organs of State and Government an essential bulwark between the liberty of the individual citizen and the State with its attendant panoply of bureaucracy. In this regard probably our most important and fundamental role is that as a profession we are the guarantor of the freedom of the individual and the liberty of the subject. We arc the vehicle or the means whereby the citizen can ensure that his fundamental rights as guaranteed to him by our Gonstitution can be vindicated and upheld. With- out the legal profession the Gourts would be unable to ensure that the fundamental rights of the indivi- dual citizen could be effectively guaranteed to him- This does not mean that the individual citizen is not entitled to seek his own remedies and redress in the Gourts if he is being denied his fundamental rights or his liberty as a subject but in practice due to the complexities of the law in the vast majority of cases he will require the services of the legal profession. I hope that another quotation will serve to underline the very comprehensiveness of the part that the legal profession is called upon to play in its service to the community. "You have everything that goes into life : they get married, get divorced, they have children, they buy property, they sign contracts. The law is the only profession I know of which is from before the cradle to after the grave. That's why it is such a satisfying way to spend a life"—Martin Gang, California Bar. The role of the solicitor as a member of the profession Let us next consider the role of the individual Soli- citor as a member of his profession. I personally prefer the term Lawyer rather than Solicitor. I feel that the word Solicitor, suggesting as it does the actual soliciting of business is outmoded in the context of the present day world, when there are so many vast fields of work open to Lawyers which completely eliminate the neces- sity of having to solicit or canvass business. In any event, it need hardly be added, that soliciting and canvassing are rightly regarded as unprofessional and, paradoxi- cally enough, would, under the Solicitors' Acts, be con- strued as of professional misconduct or conduct un- becoming of a Solicitor. As a member of the Solicitors profession, all the above remarks with regard to in- tegrity, honesty, dedication, the necessity to show and command respect apply with equal force. A Solicitor must at all times be conscientious in his dealings both with his colleagues, his clients and the public, but he must never do anything that might leave him open to the accusation of being guilty of professional miscon- duct. In these days of monetary inflation resulting in high property values and large damages it is necessary

the term is applied to a professional person as such. The word professional is further applied to a person with special training for a very particular type of work. It would be further true to say that ideally any person who decides to embark upon a professional career should have a vocation as well as a commitment to and aptitude for the type of work involved. The practise of a profession requires that its members maintain a code of conduct and standards of the very highest integrity and specialised training and aptitude for the calling in question is not sufficient without the essential re- quirement of commitment to the role which also in- volves dedication, reliability, common sense, imparti- ality and above all the highest respect for the dignity of the individual. In the case of the practise of the legal profession and with particular regard to solicitors in addition to the foregoing qualities, total honesty, respect for the truth, common sense and a broad mind are also essential. In practising a profession we are not buying or selling commodities but rather we are offer- ing a service. It is precisely this essential difference between the running of a business and the practising of a profession that creates a lot of misunderstanding of the role of a profession on the part of the public. In the case of the legal profession and in particular with regard to solicitors, a great deal of our work is unseen by the clients whom we serve and is almost totally un- known to the public at large and any publicity we receive is usually adverse and concerns high fees. What the public do not hear or appreciate, however, is the number of hours, days, weeks, months or even years that a solicitor may spend on a particular problem or series of problems for a client and this is one of the probably rather unfair facts of life with which we in the Solicitor's Profession must contend, nevertheless, considerable consolation can be gained if we are secure in the knowledge that we have performed the service for which we were retained. I think that the essence of the Solicitor's role could best be summed up by a reply that I was given recently by a young aspiring Solicitor's Apprentice to my question as to why they wished to become a Solicitor. The reply was simply "because I want to help people". The image of the profession It is difficult to give a clear picture not to mention summarise, the image that the legal profession creates from without when one is of necessity speaking from within to what is in effect not just a captive but hopefully a sympathetic audience and the following two quotations may serve to illustrate what I have been attempting to describe in regard to the profession. "True, we build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures—unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state"—John W. Davis. "I have a high opinion of lawyers. With all their faults, they stack up well against those in every other occupation or profession. They are better to work with or play with or fight with or drink with, than most other varieties of mankind"—Harrison Tweed. We should next turn briefly to the role of the legal profession in our community and here I feel personally that we are not as influential a body as we ought and

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