The Gazette 1993

GAZETTE

I M N A GEM N JUNE 1993

core principles and core values and we should not cow-tow to public perception." Barry Galvin said that he was appalled that some members of the profession felt that they could not approach the Law Society when they were in difficulty. "To my certain knowledge that perception is wrong," he stated, "help is available and many in the past who were in difficulty have been helped and have gone on to become good solicitors." Michael Staines, Law Society Council Member, said the profession was an honourable one and that its members should not be fighting amongst themselves. "As a profession, big and small firms, Cork or Dublin, we should fight for what is ours, fight to maintain our work and then do that work as well as possible." He said it amazed him that, despite overcrowding in the profession, solicitors continued to give away work to accountants, tax consultants and to brief barristers on District Court work. The final panellist, Hugh O'Neill, of the DSBA, proposed the establishment of an agency independent of the Law Society. Its functions would be to provide a confidential advisory service to practitioners. It should also provide a 'matchmaking' service to link compatible practices which wanted to merge or to share facilities and it could provide a locum service for sickness and holidays. Speakers from the floor expressed the view that the Council of the Society was losing touch with the profession. One speaker said the question was not whether the sole practitioner had a future but rather, did the Society have a future without the sole practitioner? Why should sole practitioners marginalise themselves, asked another speaker. Unlike the UK, where only a small segment of the profession comprised sole practitioners, 57% of the members Concern about PR

Members devote to working for the interests of the profession through their involvement in the Society and to the need for the involvement of both large firms and smaller firms. One speaker was critical of the banks who advanced substantial sums to sole practitioners to enable them to start up in practice but then exerted pressure when income dropped during time of recession. Presidents and Secretaries of the Bar Associations should work out a co- ordinated plan of action with the Law Society in order to lobby TDs on the problems causing concern to the profession, suggested another practitioner. He also contrasted the proposed restriction in the Solicitors Bill on solicitors setting up on their own for three years after admission with the provision in the same legislation which would give unqualified people power to do probate and conveyancing. Concern was also expressed about the lengthy waiting list for the Society's Advisory Service and there was support for the idea of a training course for prospective sole practitioners. The President of the Society, Raymond Monahan, assured the meeting that the Society was not trying to undermine sole practitioners; there was no "hidden agenda". He said that he and the Council were resolutely tackling the problems facing the profession, particularly through two special committees he had set up on the Compensation Fund and Education Policy respectively. Overcrowding was the main problem facing the profession and it was one that would have to be dealt with, he stated, but the Society was totally circumscribed by legislation. The Society was seeking change via the Solicitors Bill, while at the same time opposing sections in the Bill that would be detrimental for the profession. Raymond Monahan said No Hidden Agenda - President

of the profession in Ireland were sole practitioners, and, therefore, it was the lafge firms which should form a separate association. A number of contributors made the point that sole practitioners were trying to provide low cost, accessible, quality legal advice. One area that required positive action was the whole matter of public relations. There was also a need for much more information about the work of the Council and the Society in the form of regular bulletins about the activities going on in the Law Society. Another speaker urged the Society to engage in more positive public relations such as the 'Make A Will Week'. The Society should emphasise the appalling, archiac courts system that solicitors have to work in, and the Society should be in the vanguard of seeking law reform and of explaining the implications of new legislation to the public. The view of another contributor was that the Society was not getting its PR right. Instead of negative or defensive PR, it should engage in positive public relations. The Society available to solicitors. For example, he had heard very little demand from the Law Society for the introduction of widespread civil legal aid. The Director General of the Law Society, Noel Ryan, said he felt that there was a great deal of misunderstanding of the Society's PR policy. Merely standing up and shouting loud and long was not the way of getting one's point across. The Society, and solicitors themselves, were in a position of trust vis-a-vis the public and it was important to show that such trust was regarded as sacred. The Society was making a conscious effort to be more transparent in its dealings with the public and the press. (See also page 131.) was also not doing enough to increase the amount of work

Other speakers drew attention to the amount of time which Council

128