The Gazette 1995

GAZKTTK DECEMBER 1995

National Quality Award for Solicitor

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At a presentation ceremony of National Quality Awards in

Dublin on November 28 last, Swinford firm P. O'Connor & Son was presented with the National Irish Quality Association (IQA) Quality Award in the service sector section by the President, Mrs. Mary Robinson. This is the first time a National Quality j Award has been made to the legal j profession. In 1993 the firm was j awarded the Quality Mark for service j by the Irish Quality Association and has increased its percentage rating following the IQA audit in each year 1 j P. O'Connor & Son has its principal office situated at Market Street, Swinford, Co. Mayo and sub-offices in the town of Kiltimagh and Belmullet. The firm has seven solicitors working in its offices complemented by law clerks and secretaries. Patrick O'Connor is the principal of the firm. He was admitted to the Roll of Solicitors in 1974 and has been a member of the Council of the Law Society since 1978 where he is currently Chairman of the Education Committee. He served as Junior Vice President in 1993. He is an associate member of the Chartered : Institute of Arbitrators (Irish branch) I and in recent years was admitted as a solicitor to the Roll of Solicitors in Northern Ireland, England and Wales. The National Quality Awards are presented annually to the top ten performers in the IQA's Quality Mark (Q-Mark) audit as rated by the audit scores. Award winners typically score highest above the national average in their sector. On receiving his award, Pat O'Connor said: "The provision of a quality legal service is of prime importance to the since then.

The National Quality Awards, awarded annually to the top ten performers in the IQA's Quality Mark audit, were presented to winners at a reception in Dublin, by President Mary Robinson. Award winners typically score highest above the national average in their industrial sector and show a marked improvement in quality over their previous year's performance. Pictured at the presentations were l-r: Eddie O'Connor, President IQA; President Mary Robinson; Patrick O'Connor, O'Connor & Sons, Solicitors, Swinford, IQA National Quality Award winner and Sean Conlon, Chief Executive, IQA.

that people power i.e. the quality of | people employed, will be the j powerhouse of the future. No matter how good the product or service is today, it is ultimately the quality of the people employed, and how well they are managed, which will make or break the organisation in the future. Therefore, top management must effect a radical and real change of attitude to the concepts of employee | involvement." Sean Conlon continued: "The total quality movement has shifted the emphasis on product/process quality assurance to improving people management i.e. employee involvement for improvement. The challenge lies in being able to show employees that they are valued and thereby add value to the process. Throughout the world, it is recognised

; solicitors and staff of the firm and to myself. Solicitors are now competing with other professions, firms and bodies in the provision of services. It is the quality of that service which | always has in the past and | increasingly in the future will ensure | that the public are better served by an independent highly qualified and efficient profession of solicitors who ; give a quality service to their clients". He urged his colleagues in the I profession to join the Irish Quality | Association and that they should seek to obtain the "Q" mark for their firms. "It is a worthwhile exercise for the j solicitors involved and their staff which gives substantial satisfaction for the achievement attained", he said. Í In his address, Sean Conlon, chief j executive of the IQA said: "The leaders of Ireland Inc. must realise

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