The Gazette 1990

A PRIL 1990

GAZETTE

From the President . . .

most wonderful weather and I would personally like to express a word of thanks to our three speakers, Eamonn Barnes, Director of Public Prosecutions, Brian Coyle of James Adam & Sons and Jack Charlton, Manager, Irish Soccer Team. I think that everybody present enjoyed their contributions which in all cases were humourous and informative. At the time that I dictate this we are due to play this evening in our first match against England in the World Cup but at the time you read it, our fate will be known. I also had the pleasure of attending the Northern Ireland Conference in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland, where the principal speaker was Mary Robinson, S.C., who delivered a most interesting address on European Community Law. The report of the Fair Trade Com- mission on the legal profession in Ireland has not yet issued. How- ever, from information which we have received, I understand that it should be published before the end of June. From reports which I received at a meeting of Presidents and Secretaries of Bar Associations it appears that the Wills Week was very successful in many parts of the country. In conclusion may I just remind all golfers that my prize will be played for at Mullingar Golf Club on Friday, 27th July, 1990. •

of "The role of the profession in securing access to justice". This, of course, dealt almost entirely with the recent developments in England and Wales to improve the existing legal aid system. Even though the system of legal aid there is vastly superior to our system, they still consider there are many grounds and areas for improvement. Let us hope that something may be learned from this by our govern- ment. Some weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending the meeting of the heads of Bar Associations in Venice which was organised by the International Bar Association. One of the principal topics at this con- ference was the political and economic independence of the profession. This was considered under many headings, mainly in relation to the method of appoint- ment of the judiciary, comparisons between the large firm and the individual practitioner and the whole question of the multi-dis- ciplinary practice and/or partner- ship. One of the messages which came through was that whilst lawyers had to become very con- scious of commercialism in running their practice, at the same time at all costs the high standards of professionalism must be retained. The lawyer has a duty to his client and to the cause of justice and both of these are imperative. At home we had our Annual Conference in Killarney which attracted record numbers and I think was very successful. Certainly we benefitted from the

Since my last column two months ago I have done a considerable amount of travelling. Firstly, I attended the Commonwealth Law Conference in Auckland, New Zealand. Whilst we are not a mem- ber of the Commonwelath, the Conference was held in conjunct- ion with the New Zealand Triennial Conference. It was a very success- ful and well attended conference - somewhere is excess of 2,500 people attended. It was interesting to hear the views of the various speakers from the various Com- monwealth countries and to find out that their problems in may spheres are very similar to our own. One topic which is causing very considerable concern is profession- al indemnity insurance and in particular the number of claims that are arising and the considerable increase in the amount of these claims. An interesting paper was read by Lord Mackay under the title

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