The Gazette 1990

GAZETTE

PRIL

1990

From the President . . .

Since my last column two months

ago I have done a considerable

amount of travelling. Firstly, I

attended the Commonwealth Law

Conference in Auckland, New

Zealand. Whilst we are not a mem-

ber of the Commonwelath, the

Conference was held in conjunct-

ion with the New Zealand Triennial

Conference. It was a very success-

ful and well attended conference -

somewhere is excess of 2,500

people attended. It was interesting

to hear the views of the various

speakers from the various Com-

monwealth countries and to find

out that their problems in may

spheres are very similar to our own.

One topic which is causing very

considerable concern is profession-

al indemnity insurance and in

particular the number of claims that

are arising and the considerable

increase in the amount of these

claims. An interesting paper was

read by Lord Mackay under the title

of "The role of the profession in

securing access to justice". This, of

course, dealt almost entirely with

the recent developments in England

and Wales to improve the existing

legal aid system. Even though the

system of legal aid there is vastly

superior to our system, they still

consider there are many grounds

and areas for improvement. Let us

hope that something may be

learned from this by our govern-

ment.

Some weeks ago I had the

pleasure of attending the meeting

of the heads of Bar Associations in

Venice which was organised by the

International Bar Association. One

of the principal topics at this con-

ference was the political and

economic independence of the

profession. This was considered

under many headings, mainly in

relation to the method of appoint-

ment of the judiciary, comparisons

between the large firm and the

individual practitioner and the

whole question of the multi-dis-

ciplinary practice and/or partner-

ship. One of the messages which

came through was that whilst

lawyers had to become very con-

scious of commercialism in running

their practice, at the same time at

all costs the high standards of

professionalism must be retained.

The lawyer has a duty to his client

and to the cause of justice and both

of these are imperative.

At home we had our Annual

Conference in Killarney which

attracted record numbers and I

think was very successful.

Certainly we benefitted from the

most wonderful weather and I

would personally like to express a

word of thanks to our three

speakers, Eamonn Barnes, Director

of Public Prosecutions, Brian Coyle

of James Adam & Sons and Jack

Charlton, Manager, Irish Soccer

Team. I think that everybody

present enjoyed their contributions

which in all cases were humourous

and informative. At the time that I

dictate this we are due to play this

evening in our first match against

England in the World Cup but at the

time you read it, our fate will be

known.

I also had the pleasure of

attending the Northern Ireland

Conference in Dumfries &

Galloway, Scotland, where the

principal speaker was Mary

Robinson, S.C., who delivered a

most interesting address on

European Community Law.

The report of the Fair Trade Com-

mission on the legal profession in

Ireland has not yet issued. How-

ever, from information which we

have received, I understand that it

should be published before the end

of June.

From reports which I received at

a meeting of Presidents and

Secretaries of Bar Associations it

appears that the Wills Week was

very successful in many parts of

the country.

In conclusion may I just remind

all golfers that my prize will be

played for at Mullingar Golf Club on

Friday, 27th July, 1990.

•

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