The Gazette 1992

GAZETTE

MARCH 1992

Practising Certificates

The submission seeks a provision

that will put an end to the present

rule that where the Society has

refused to issue a practising

certificate, once an appeal has been

lodged the Society must issue the

Certificate pending the outcome

of the appeal. This has been

criticised by some members of the

profession.

Section 62 - Costs

There is serious concern in the

profession that Section 62 as drafted

is unworkable, according to the

submission. There is a lack of clarity

in relation to the requirement to

furnish a client in advance with

particulars in writing of the

basis

which charges are to be made for

work.

Moreover, the Society believes that

this particular obligation should not

arise where the work in question is

not likely to cost more than a

specified amount, for example, £100.

The Society is strongly opposed to

the general prohibition on the

charging of percentage fees by

solicitors in contentious business and

argues strongly for the dropping of

this provision.

The submission notes that as a

general principle, there is nothing

inherently wrong with the charging

of percentage fees. It is a practice

widely engaged in by other

professions. There are many cases,

the Society argues, where the

charging of a percentage fee, on top

of the party and party costs, is

entirely justified having regard to the

work performed for the client, the

importance of the case and its

outcome.

End Legal Controls on Fees

The submission urges the

introduction of an amendment to the

Bill which would have the effect of

removing all legal controls on

solicitors' remuneration. The Society

makes the point that given the

general philosophy underpinning

the recent Competition Act, the

provisions in the Solicitors Bill

which will effectively prevent the

Society from prohibiting a solicitor

from charging less than the statutory

scale for any particular service

and the provision which would

allow fee advertising, there is no

longer any justification for the

existing framework of legislation

which controls solicitors'

remuneration.

Section

63 -

Fee Advertising

The provision permitting solicitors to

advertise fees has been widely

condemned in the profession

according to the submission. Noting

that the vast majority of solicitors,

who provide a good service at

reasonable cost have no interest in

engaging in fee advertising, the

Society concludes that this measure

would only encourage that small

minority of members who resort to

cutting corners and who are more

concerned with earning money than

the quality of the service they

provide.

Section 55 - Fee Sharing by

Solicitors

The submision says that, following

debate, the Council of the Law

Society decided that on balance it

was opposed to the introduction of

multi-disciplinary practices (MDPs)

and the submission therefore requests

that the paragraph of Section 65

which would permit the establishment

of MDPs should be deleted.

Section

6 9 -

Restriction on the

Withdrawal of a Solicitor From a Case

The submission notes that both the

profession as a whole and the Council

of the Law Society reacted strongly to

this particular section and seeks its

removal from the Bill. It is a

provision that reflects badly on the

profession as a whole and is totally

unwarranted. The existing rules of

professional conduct of the profession

do not permit a solicitor to withdraw

from a case when a client is in

custody without making adequate

arrangements to ensure that the

client's interests are fully protected.

Section 73 - Probate by Banks and

Ttust Corporations

The submission sets out in detail the

strong opposition of the profession

to this section and likewise to

Section 74 that permits conveyancing

services to be provided by banks, as

articulated in earlier statements.

Abolition of Compulsory Irish

The submission suggests that the

provisions in the Solicitors Act, 1954

which make it mandatory for

intending solicitors to pass two

examinations in the Irish language

should be repealed. The Society is

prepared to accept, in its place, a

provision in the Bill which will

impose upon it an obligation to

maintain a panel of solicitors

who are competent in the language

and willing to provide legal

services through the medium of

Irish.

Data Protection Act

The Submission also deals with the

implications of the Data Protection

Act for the confidentiality of the

solicitor/client relationship and

requests the Minister to include a

provision in the Bill which will

remove the solicitor's profession

from scope of the Data Protection

Act, 1988.

The above is merely an outline

summary of the contents of the

submission which was discussed

and approved by the Council of the

Law Society at its meetings on 17

January and 14 February.

Considerable work has been done on

preparing detailed drafting

amendments. These amendments

have also been submitted to the

Department of Justice and

discussions on these and the

terms of the submission are

envisaged. A copy of the full text of

the submission is available to any

member of the profession on request

to the Law Society. The Solicitor's

Amendment Bill is currently at

Second Stage in Dáil Eireann and

it is expected to go to Committee

Stage at the time of going to

press.

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