The Gazette 1990

GAZETTE

DECEMBER 1990

would be helped by shifting the balance towards more written evidence, - time limits on oral argument, along the lines of the system in the European Court of Justice, will be considered. In the subsequent open forum discussion, there seemed to be substantial support for the idea of moving towards a system of fixed dates for trials even if that meant that judges would end up with time on their hands because of cases collapsing. The judges' time, it was felt, was arguably the least costly of all the factors involved in liti- gation costs. There seemed to be a definite lack of enthusiasm on the part of the senior member of the judiciary present for this idea. Lord Griffiths also had some interesting things to say about the substantive law on civil liability, predicting that the 'no fault 'sys- tem would come within 10 years. He believes that this will lead to the introduction of a "development risk" defence in some areas of law, particularly where new products had allegedly caused damage, as in the Thalidomide case. There would still be a need for the class action in, for example, the area of en- vironmental tort law. If 'no fault' comes, litigants will have to accept more modest levels of compensa- tion in return for the certainty of recovery. Retention of the common law action for negligence, as an option, was also a possibility, though Lord Griffiths would not favour this. He expressed some concern about the increase in the number of actions for medical negligence and said, in this context, that if the fault system were retained, consideration would have to be given to introducing arbitration instead of court hearings where actions would be tried before two doctors and a lawyer with a predominant emphasis on written argument. The Guildford Case From an Irish viewpoint, the session on the Guildford case in- volving a panel discussion of the issues arising out of the case, in- cluding the question of alternative appeal systems, was of special importance. The panel speakers included Sir David Napley, former President of the English Law Society and Alistair Logan, solicitor, who handled the Guildford case.

Mr. Logan, in particular, presented a most comprehensive analysis of the case and what went wrong and offered his views on what changes were needed. I hope to include a full treatment of Mr. Logan's address in the next issue. • Meeting the Welsh! Last November, the Associated Law Societies of Wales contacted the Law Society, expressing a desire to liase with Irish Solicitors. The Council, at the behest of Moya Quinlan, referred the matter to me. Following an exchange of corre- spondence with the Associated Law Societies of Wales, a pattern emerged whereby the Gwynedd Law Society in North Wales would liase with the Wicklow Bar Association and the Dyfed Law Society would liaise with the Wexford Bar Association. On 6 July, a party of nine Welsh Solicitors arrived and we managed to change the date and venue of our quarterly Meeting so that they could attend. They were guests at our annual Golf Outing/Dinner and attended a District Court in Bray. Last weekend, September 14 to 16, a group of 10 from our Bray Association, including three spouses, travelled to Betwys-y- Coed where they were entertained royally by the Gwynedd Law Society. Four members participated in a golf match for a perpetual trophy kindly donated by the

GAZETTE INDICES 1988 8l 1989 available Cost £2.00 each (incl. postage) President of their Association. They had participated when in Ireland in our first annual J . T. Louth Memorial Trophy at Woodenbridge Golf Club. There was a Home winner on each occasion. At a dinner held on the Saturday night, Mrs. Janet Evans, President of the Gwynedd Law Society, was hostess and Mr. Trevor Morgan, President of the Associated Law Societies of Wales attended. Arrangements were made to have reciprocal annual visits. While the first two visits were largely social, arrangements were made to discuss in future years matters of mutual legal interest. There was a very valuable exchange of informa- tion with particular emphasis on 1992 but also on ground level arrangements were discussed for agencies, referrals etc. It is understood that Dyfed Law Society has not yet contacted the Wexford Bar Association but it is expected they will discuss a similar arrangement. •

WI L L I AM FALLON, Solicitor President, Wicklow Ber Associetion.

Back Row (left to right): Joe Buckley, Bray, Mrs. Ita Connolly, Bray, Trevor Morgan, President Associated Law Societies of Wales, Richard Cooke, Arklow, and David Tarrant, Arklow. Front (left to right): Mrs. Lillian Cullen, Miss Mary Miley, Rathdrum, Mrs. Janet Evans, President of the Gwynedd Law Society, William Fallon, President of the Wicklow Bar Association, Mrs. Anne Fallon, and Laurence Cullen, Solicitor.

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