The Gazette 1993

GAZETTE

rights of ordinary people to be properly compensated when they suffer personal injury through no fault of their own. Amendment of Society's byelaws The meeting approved amendments to byelaw 6 of the Byelaws of the Society J in order to enable the scrutineers of the annual election of members of the Council of the Law Society to perform their functions more effectively. j attending the meeting on the progress of ! negotiations with the Revenue Commis- j sioners concerning the provisions of Part ; VII of the Finance Act, 1992 . He out- lined the progress that had been made in discussions over a wide range of matters which had caused concern to members | of the profession. He informed the meet- | ing that the Council of the Society had | decided to hold a Special General Meeting of the profession on 17 June, 1993 to consider the issue more fully. Solicitors Retirement Fund The chairman of the Solicitors Retire- ment Fund, Gerald Hickey reported to j the meeting that 1992 had been a | difficult year for investment. Overall { during that year pension funds increased by a mere 1%. However, he was pleased | to report that there had been a 6.1 % Í increase in the Solicitors Retirement | Fund. This was very favourable, j especially when it was reviewed against a Consumer Price Index increase for the year of 2.4%. The current value of the fund was approximately £21 m. There j were 462 members of the fund of which I 362 were under 50 years of age. Solicitors Benevolent Association I Andy Smyth, chairman of the Solicitors' j Benevolent Association, thanked the | Law Society and members of the j profession for their continuing support | for the Association's work. Unfortun- | ately, demands on the association were | continuing to rise and had increased by £50,000 per annum over the past seven years, he said. He noted that during the year the former secretary of the Association, Clare Leonard, had been appointed a Judge of the District Court and said that he wished to place on Part VII Finance Act, 1992 | The chairman of the Taxation Com- | mittee, Frank Dcrly, briefed those

At the Half Yearly Meeting of the Society were l-r: Ciaran Keys, Solicitor, Galway; Moya Quintan, Council member and Past President of the Society and Frank Daly, I Council member and Chairman of the Taxation Committee.

record the enormous amount of work that she had done for the Association. He thanked all those in the profession who had got involved in golf competitions around the country to generate funds for the Association, and he complimented all those who had been involved in the fundraising production of "Trial by Jury" by Gilbert and Sullivan in Green Street Courthouse which had been a great success. He said it was particularly pleasing to see the involvement of both | branches of the legal profession. Any other business I Under any other business, Damien Tansey, Solicitor, asked why the Society did not respond publicly in the Sunday Business Post to comments attributed in Í that paper to James Osborne. The ! President of the Society pointed out that, since, at the time, a complaint had been lodged with the Registrar's Committee, that aspect of the matter could not be dealt with publicly. The Council had | also decided that there should be no | public statement but that the President ! should deal with the matter by letter. | Mr. Tansey asked whether, in combatt - ing fraud, the Society would consider ! surprise spot checks on practices. The assets of practices of deviant solicitors I should be sold and the proceeds transmitted to the Compensation Fund. | The President said that the question of spot ch'ecks was currently being considered by the Compensation Fund Review Committee. The Director General of the Society, Noel Ryan, pointed out that as the law stands, the

Law Society had no power to sell a practice against the wishes of a principal and the Society hoped to have that situation addressed in the forthcoming I Solicitors Bill. The President of the j Society denied the implication by Mr. Tansey that any deals were done with solicitors who had acted fraudulently j and said that the Society had a very stern attitude to such solicitors. Mr. Tansey also asked whether, given the increase in numbers in the profession, there was sufficient scrutiny to ensure that masters were educating I and training their apprentices properly. The chairman of the Education Committee, Pat O'Connor, assured Mr. Tansey that there were frequent checks | on masters. He shared Mr. Tansey's view that it was getting more difficult to obtain an apprenticeship and stated that the Education Review Committee had | made proposals on this issue which were ! currently being considered by the I Council of the Society. • Barbara Cahalane.

NORTHERN IRELAND

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* Legal woric undertaken on an agency basis * All communications to clients through instructing Solicitors * Consultants in Dublin if required Contact: Seamus Connolly, Moran and Ryan, Solicitors

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