The Gazette 1983

JULY/AUGUST

198

GAZETTE

The Increasing Role of the Legal Profession in the Employment Appeals Tribunal by Deirdre Poole, College of Commerce, Rathmines Winning Essay of The Law Society's Annual Journalism Award 1983 T HE Employment Appeals Tribunal has become

"The law in relation to the Tribunal is complicated and will get more so in the future" says Mr. Ercus Stuart, SC, a leading labour law expert. "Because of our membership of the EEC more laws will be passed dealing with labour law. They will have all sorts of gaps in them so this is a growing area for solicitors." "Younger solicitors in particular have an advantage in this area over older solicitors because for the past ten years they have had a special course at the Kings Inn in the whole area of dismissal law and practice.These solicitors will have more experience and knowledge and so will have more opportunity especially in larger firms. Larger firms now deal with more labour law cases because they represent large of multi-national companies." "A number of solicitors and barristers though are not doing a good job" claims Mr. Gary Byrne, solicitor and expert in labour law. "Some members of the legal pro- fession are just not offay with the Tribunal system. They tend to compare it with courtwork and because there is little paperwork they don't put enough work into it." "Because there is so little paperwork involved and because there is so little information available beforehand I think the onus is on the solicitor or barrister to do even more work in the Tribunal hearings" argues Mr. Stuart. "Also barristers are just as necessary as solicitors at hearings" says Mr. Stuart. "Solicitors don't have as much experience at advocacy. If a case is to be decided on whether someone is telling the truth then a barrister is the best person to establish it in cross examination." "Solicitors are needed because in many cases the trade unions are appalling. They just haven't got a clue of the law. In many cases where the unions are winning they are not getting enough for their clients. People then go to solicitors expecting them to do better," agrees Mr. Byrne. "Companies can afford to have their own solicitors and they more often than not use them to represent them,"

something of a boom area for the legal profession during the past five years and, however contradictory this is to the original aim of the Tribunal it shows that Labour Law is now an important growth area in Irish Law. The original aim of the Tribunal, in the words of the Donovan Commission, was to provide "an easily acces- sible, informal and inexpensive procedure for the settle- ment of disputes." This meant that both parties could present their own cases with no involvement from the legal profession. Legal knowledge and experience has always been recognised by the Tribunal. The Chairman is required to have a mimimum of seven years legal practice and although not required by law, the Vice-Chairmen appointed so far have all had legal experience. In addition, the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 has its background in Common Law. A knowledge of adjectival law is also required, as distinct from substantive law, to ensure that hearings are conducted in accordance with the require- ments of Natural Law. But the Tribunal was not designed to become a court with legal representation on both sides. Both trade unions and employers' organisations provide services for representing members and in 1978 a total of 444 employees were represented by their unions. Only 211 cases were represented by the legal profession. By 1981 the number of union represented cases was 721 while the number of legally represented cases had risen to 672, three times the 1978 figure. Legal involvement on the employer's side is much more pronounced and always has been. The legal profession represented 265 employers in 1978 while the unions represented only 154 cases. By 1981 the legal profession represented 724 cases while the unions represented 406 employers. (See Table).

REPRESENTATION AT SITTINGS EMPLOYEES

EMPLOYERS

Representation by Solicitor or Counsel.

Representation by Employer Organisation.

Representation by Solicitor or Counsel.

Representation by Trade Union.

154 136 258 406

265 397 776 724

211 305 387 672

444 427 801 721

1978 1979 1980 1981

Figures supplied by Dept. of Labour.

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