The Gazette 1979

SEPTEMBER 1979

GAZETTE

note in this regard that the equality of primary quali- fication in no way inhibits specialisation by Trial Lawyers and others. One of the functions I attended was the Annual Banquet of the American College of Trial Lawyers. This group can only be joined by invitation and is restricted to not more than 2% of the attorneys practising in any State. It is regarded as a matter of considerable prestige to be invited to join this College, and a number of new invitees were formally inducted on the night in question. Again, however, there is no sense of separation of the Trial Lawyers or other specialists from the remainder of the Profession, and the general atmosphere between the Bench and the members of the Association appears to be very good. A further matter of interest in relation to the Bench is the system of nomination of judges which, I understand, now operates in most States. Most States have a Judicial Nominations Commission which nominates a given number of persons, between three and seven, for each judicial appointment over a certain level. The Judicial Nominations Commission for New York State has just nominated seven persons for the shortly to be vacated post of Chief Judge of New York and the Governor of New York must, between the 1st and the 15th January, 1980, select one from the nomianted list to be the new Chief Judge. Judges at this level are appointed for a fourteen year term, and are eligible for re-appointment. They must, however, retire at 70 years of age, even if they reach that age before the expiration of their term. One Seminar which I attended had the interesting title, "Your Clients — Love Them or They'll Leave You". The opening speaker of the seminar made an almost evangelical appeal to those present to love their clients, saying that it was much better for business if one could manage it. 1 was a little reminded of my own address at the last Presentation of Parchments at which, while not going as far as suggesting that we should love our clients, I did, at least, urge our newly admitted colleagues to have respect for their clients. Another Seminar was entitled "Terrorism & Violence — Tools for Legal and Social Change". This meeting was addressed by Leon Uris and Jill Uris the well-known authors of "Ireland — A Terrible Beauty". A young Dublin Barrister called David Byrne was one of the panelists having, apparently, been invited by the American Young Lawyers Society. 'While there were some oblique references to Ireland, the main discussion was in relation to Arab/Israeli affairs, and some interesting views were expressed. An interesting feature of the Conference was that it included no less than half a dozen special mini conferences of different kinds of Judges, including an Appelate Judges Conference, a Conference of Administrative Law Judges and Conferences of Federal Trial Judges, Special Court Judges, State Trial Judges and Judges of the National Judicial College. I attended an open session of the A.B.A. Standing Committee on Lawyers Title Guarantee Funds. The direction in which the A.B.A. is endeavouring to push American Lawyers in relation to Title Insurance is to persuade local Bar Associations to accept what they call Bar Related Title Assuring Organisations. In other words,

the Lawyers in each State or district are being urged to establish their own co-operative broking organisation to provide title insurance where clients want it, so as to ensure that as far as possible all such title insurance is provided through the Profession, and not by clients going directly to an outside broker or insurance company. This operation is working well, and I understand that the view is gaining ground among the public that it is safer to have your Lawyer carry out title insurance for you, even if the cost is somewhat more than going directly to a title insurance company. I attended a number of other meetings and detailed dis- cussions, but I do not think that there is a great deal of point in setting them out in detail in this report. What I would like to refer to, however, is my overall impression of the Law and its power in the United States, and the way in which the A.B.A. as the principal Legal Organisation in America sees its own future. The A.B.A. celebrated its Centenary in 1978, and as of the date of the Conference this year, its membership for the first time exceeded 250,000 Lawyers, representing about 55% of all duly qualified Lawyers in the United States. The A.B.A. has set up a special committee to organise very substantial funds for what they call "The Second Century". The objective of this special fund is quite openly to promote the Profession, and its power and influence in the community in every possible way, and it appears that an undertaking has been given that any money subscribed to the "Second Century Fund" will not be applied in any way towards the ordinary expenses of running the A.B.A., but will be applied towards a selected number of publicity, promotional and educational projects, with the direct and openly acknowledged objective of increasing the power and influence of the Legal Profession. It is expected that in the first year of the Fund the Committee will raise $10m. for these purposes. I feel that, at some stage, we should consider whether any projects could be designed to improve the image and standing of our Profession in Ireland. If realistic projects could be devised, they would certainly deserve the support of the Profession. We have, of course, in the Kings Hospital an important project, and I am convinced that it will make a major contribution in future years to the image and standing of the Profession. I think that the visit of myself and my wife to the United States and our meeting with all the major men in the American Bar Association and their wives, created considerable goodwill, and certainly helps to establish the Legal Profession in this country in the minds of the principal persons in the American Bar Association. We found a great deal of goodwill towards Ireland, and interest in its affairs generally. I feel myself that the visit was well worthwhile from our Profession's point of view, and. I am very glad that I had the honour of representing our Profession at the Conference. I would like to express my thanks to the Council for sending my wife and I to represent them, and I hope that we did so in a satisfactory way. Finely, along with the other visiting Presidents, and the Chairman of the Bar Council of England and Wales, I was made an honorary member of the American Bar Association, and 1 propose to display my certificate proudly in the President's flat.

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