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GAZETTE
SEPTEMBER 1979
claims. In the coming year, it is proposed to make a determined approach to such
practices. In the case of new practices the Registrar's Committee is recommending a
minimum cover of £150,000.
(ii)
Superannuation Scheme:
The fund now stands at close on £1,000,000. It is
satisfying to be able to report that the initial subscribers to the scheme have doubled
their investment. The fund is now in the process of acquiring a property investment
and once this is achieved it will have a full spread of investments. The brochure
detailing the benefits and options under the scheme is being up-dated with a view to
a further membership drive next February-March.
(iii)
Company Formation:
Member satisfaction can be gauged from the increased
demands placed on the service. Efforts to expand into other service areas did not
meet with success.
(iv)
Saleable Forms and Publications:
The Society continues to make available standard
forms for Contract, Requisitions and Building Agreements, together with the books
published by the Public Relations Committee.
(v)
Employment Register:
The Employment Register was much used during the year.
As might be expected, the greater demand came from newly-qualified solicitors, but,
in addition, success was achieved in some situations involving more-experienced
members of the profession and practice amalgamations.
2.15
Staff:
Due to increased activity, the staff of the Society was expanded by the
appointment of Mr. Patrick Quinn as Training Officer and Miss Mary Buckley as
Assistant Librarian. Mr. Nicholas Moore succeeded Mr. Brendan Twomey as Education
Officer. Miss Anne Kane was appointed Premises Manager and was succeeded as
Personal Secretary to the Director General by Miss Mary C. O'Connor. Though adver-
tised on two occasions, the Society failed in its efforts to fill the post of Director of Profes-
sional Services, as recommended by last year's Annual General Meeting. The Society has
now sought the assistance of consultants in the filling of the post.
REGISTRAR'S
COMMITTEE
Thomas D. Shaw
Chairman
Andrew J. Donnelly
Thomas J. Fhzpatrick
John P. Hooper
Carmd S. Killeen
Patrick O'Connor
Michael V. O'Mahony
Laurence K. Shields
Andrew F. Smyth
Moya Quinlan
Thomas D. Shaw
Chairman
3.1
This year has shown considerable progress in the rationalisation of a system
wljich will enable complaints to be speedily dealt with and which will enable the Society to
see that Solicitors' Accountants' Certificates and Practising Certificates are kept up to
date.
3.2
The amount of paper coming into the Law Society is undiminished by way of
complaints. In the year to date 639 complaints were received. We are deeply indebted to
Mr. Basil Doyle for excellent work in sorting out the initial complaints, many of which are
of a nature which are not genuine complaints or ones which do not fall within the ambit of
the Registrar's Committee. The Interview Board functioned satisfactorily and a lot of the
complaints which were not dealt with in initial correspondence were cleared at Interview
Board level.
3.3
Complaints were considered by the Registrar's Committee during the year and
most of these were satisfactorily dealt with and fourteen complaints were referred by the
Registrar's Committee to the Disciplinary Committee for further action. Members will
appreciate the vital importance of replying to correspondence received from the Law
Society if a complaint is made against them. If they do not, they have only themselves to
blame if it subsequently appears at Interview Board or Registrar's Committee level. Again
it must be stressed that a number of complaints are generally made against a small
number of members of the profession whose names appear again and again before the
Committee. The Committee is doing its utmost to impress upon the solicitors the
importance of keeping their work up to date and if they are behind, then they should
consider ás a matter of urgency restructuring their staff so as to bring their work up to
date. Having received numerous expressions of thanks from members of the public
making genuine complaints, it is hoped that a considerable improvement has now been
achieved in the speed in which complaints are handled and again the Society is indebted to
Mr. Basil Doyle and Mr. Fintan Burke who are dealing principally with this area of the
work of the Committee.
3.4
The Committee has been particularly active in the question of Accountants'
Certificates and Practising Certificates. The Committee were disturbed to note that at the
1st March 1979 414 firms out of a total of almost 900 were more than one year in
arrears with their Accountant's Certificate. As a result a major drive has been made
during the year and members whose certificates have been in arrears have been written to
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