The Gazette 1975

sion and will be enacted sometime in Autumn 1975. This legislation provides for the establishment of a compensation fund, greatly widens the powers of the Society, consolidates existing law relating to Solicitors and, broadly speaking, brings such law into line with that pertaining to Solicitors in England and Wales. 5. Professional Indemnity Insurance The Solicitors' (N.I.) Order 1975, referred to at 4 above, incorporates powers for the Society to intro- duce a compulsory scheme of Professional Indemnity Insurance. The possibilities of the compulsory scheme proposed by the Law Society (in regard to Solicitors in England and Wales) being extended to cover N. Ireland Solicitors are currently being investigated. 6. Licensing of Solicitors — Consumer Credit Act 1974 This Society is equally concerned with !the matters set out in the memorandum of the Secretary of the Law Society of Scotland. It was originally taken for granted that the Society would apply for Group Licences under the Consumer Credit Adt but having regard to the present altitude of the Director General of Fair Trading and the comparatively small number of Solicitors in N. Ireland consideration is now being given to the merits of each Solicitor being required to take out his own individual licences. 7. Legal Aid The Society has decided to sponsor a Rota Scheme whereby Solicitors will, on a roita basis, attend at Cit- izens Advice Bureaux and other approved rdvice centres. In addition the Society has decided to prepare and publish a Referal List covering all Solicitors in the province and which will indicate the types of case which they are prepared to accept and undertake on reference. This list will be made available for referal to Citizens Advice Bureaux and other approved law centres, Public Welfare Officers, appropriate volun- tary organisations and public offices. It is anticipated that Legal Assistance (in the form of the Green Form or £25 Scheme presently operated

both in Scotland and in England and Wales) will be available in N. Ireland by the end of this year. For some time it has been claimed in certain quar- ters that there is, particularly in the city of Belfast, an unmet need for legal services which are not being provided by the Private Practitioners. It is currently envisaged that in the near future a Law Centre will be established on a temporary experimental basis with Government funds and approval of the Society. The Centre will employ one or two full time Solicitors, a full time Social Worker and ancillary staff. The Centre will be under the management of an independent management committee. The Solicitor or Solicitors at- tached to the Centre will operate as "resource Solicitors" and will be authorised to seek out sections of the pop- ulation who have rights of which they are ignorant and to give advice in regard to the enforcement of such rights. The said Solicitors will also be authorised to undertake, through the Statutory Legal Aid Scheme, the conduct of proceedings which Private Practitioners are not prepared to undertake. The essential basis of the approval given by the Society to this project is that the service to be provided by the Centre will be complementary to and not competitive with private practice. It is also envisaged that Government funds will be made available for the employment by the Society of a Liaison Officer who will maintain liaison with ap- propriate voluntary organisations and public welfare bodies, assist with the education of Councillors and other Social Workers, supervise the operation of the Rota Scheme and the Referal List referred to above and seek out the localities and types of work where the service provided by Private Practitioners is inad- equate and to explore methods of remedying such in- adequacies, if any. 8. Annual Subscriptions The Annual Membership Subscription payable by each of our members for the current year is £12.50. In addition each practising Solicitor pays a fee for his Annual Practising Certificate of £50. In future those taking out Practising Certificates will have to pay, in addition, an annual contribution or levy to the Compensation Fund.

National Prices Commission Enquiry

(3) to determine to what extent there is "cross-subsidis- ation" of one class of business by another; (4) to consider "delays" in the legal system and parti- cularly those associated with (a) Court Organisa- tion and practice and (b) the Taxation of Costs; (5) to comment on the scope for increased efficiency among solicitors, for example : (a) Amalgamations of Firms; (b) the Introduction of Time Costing in preference to scale fees;

The N.P.C. has appointed Professor Dennis Lees, Department of Industrial Economics, The University of Nottingham to review solicitors' remuneration. His terms of reference are as follows : (1) to review the total income of solicitors and in- creases in their total expenses since 1970 and, if practicable, since 1965; (2) to identify the main classes of business and ex- pense and to trace their behaviour in recent years;

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