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GAZETTE
DECEMBER 1990
would be helped by shifting the
balance towards more written
evidence,
- time limits on oral argument,
along the lines of the system in
the European Court of Justice,
will be considered.
In the subsequent open forum
discussion, there seemed to be
substantial support for the idea of
moving towards a system of fixed
dates for trials even if that meant
that judges would end up with time
on their hands because of cases
collapsing. The judges' time, it was
felt, was arguably the least costly
of all the factors involved in liti-
gation costs. There seemed to be
a definite lack of enthusiasm on the
part of the senior member of the
judiciary present for this idea.
Lord Griffiths also had some
interesting things to say about the
substantive law on civil liability,
predicting that the 'no fault 'sys-
tem would come within 10 years.
He believes that this will lead to the
introduction of a "development
risk" defence in some areas of law,
particularly where new products
had allegedly caused damage, as in
the Thalidomide case. There would
still be a need for the class action
in, for example, the area of en-
vironmental tort law. If 'no fault'
comes, litigants will have to accept
more modest levels of compensa-
tion in return for the certainty of
recovery. Retention of the common
law action for negligence, as an
option, was also a possibility,
though Lord Griffiths would not
favour this. He expressed some
concern about the increase in the
number of actions for medical
negligence and said, in this context,
that if the fault system were retained,
consideration would have to be given
to introducing arbitration instead of
court hearings where actions
would be tried before two doctors
and a lawyer with a predominant
emphasis on written argument.
The Guildford Case
From an Irish viewpoint, the
session on the Guildford case in-
volving a panel discussion of the
issues arising out of the case, in-
cluding the question of alternative
appeal systems, was of special
importance. The panel speakers
included Sir David Napley, former
President of the English Law
Society and Alistair Logan, solicitor,
who handled the Guildford case.
Mr. Logan, in particular, presented
a most comprehensive analysis of
the case and what went wrong and
offered his views on what changes
were needed. I hope to include a
full treatment of Mr. Logan's
address in the next issue.
•
Meeting the Welsh!
Last November, the Associated
Law Societies of Wales contacted
the Law Society, expressing a
desire to liase with Irish Solicitors.
The Council, at the behest of Moya
Quinlan, referred the matter to me.
Following an exchange of corre-
spondence with the Associated
Law Societies of Wales, a pattern
emerged whereby the Gwynedd
Law Society in North Wales would
liase with the Wicklow Bar
Association and the Dyfed Law
Society would liaise with the
Wexford Bar Association.
On 6 July, a party of nine Welsh
Solicitors arrived and we managed
to change the date and venue of
our quarterly Meeting so that they
could attend. They were guests at
our annual Golf Outing/Dinner and
attended a District Court in Bray.
Last weekend, September 14 to
16, a group of 10 from our Bray
Association, including three
spouses, travelled to Betwys-y-
Coed where they were entertained
royally by the Gwynedd Law
Society. Four members participated
in a golf match for a perpetual
trophy kindly donated by the
GAZETTE INDICES
1988 8l 1989
available
Cost £2.00 each (incl. postage)
President of their Association. They
had participated when in Ireland in
our first annual J . T. Louth
Memorial Trophy at Woodenbridge
Golf Club. There was a Home
winner on each occasion.
At a dinner held on the Saturday
night, Mrs. Janet Evans, President
of the Gwynedd Law Society, was
hostess and Mr. Trevor Morgan,
President of the Associated Law
Societies of Wales attended.
Arrangements were made to
have reciprocal annual visits. While
the first two visits were largely
social, arrangements were made to
discuss in future years matters of
mutual legal interest. There was a
very valuable exchange of informa-
tion with particular emphasis on
1992 but also on ground level
arrangements were discussed for
agencies, referrals etc.
It is understood that Dyfed Law
Society has not yet contacted the
Wexford Bar Association but it is
expected they will discuss a similar
arrangement.
•
WI L L I AM FALLON, Solicitor
President,
Wicklow Ber Associetion.
Back Row (left to right): Joe Buckley, Bray, Mrs. Ita Connolly, Bray, Trevor
Morgan, President Associated Law Societies of Wales, Richard Cooke,
Arklow, and David Tarrant, Arklow.
Front (left to right): Mrs. Lillian Cullen, Miss Mary Miley, Rathdrum, Mrs.
Janet Evans, President of the Gwynedd Law Society, William Fallon,
President of the Wicklow Bar Association, Mrs. Anne Fallon, and Laurence
Cullen, Solicitor.
317