The Gazette 1996

GAZETTE

N E W S

APRIL/MAY 1996

Report of Council Meeting held on

19 April 1996

The following is a brief summary of

proceedings at the meeting of the

Council of the Law Society on 19

April, 1996.

1. Motion - Compulsory Insurance

Regulations

"That this Council take urgent

steps to alleviate the financial

hardship which the compulsory

insurance regulations will impose

on the majority of the profession."

Proposer:

James McCourt

Seconder:

Hugh O 'Neill

This motion had been adjourned from

the March Council meeting. The

proposers did not wish to pursue it

further at this time and, accordingly,

the motion was adjourned generally.

2. Motion - Special General

Meeting

"That this Council adopts the

resolutions passed at the Special

General Meeting of the Society

held on Thursday, 7th March,

1996."

Proposer:

James MacGuill

Seconder:

Hugh O 'Neill

The Society's Bye-Laws provide that a

resolution passed at a General Meeting

is not binding unless subsequently

adopted by the Council. Some Council

members indicated they were unhappy

with some of the Review Working

Group recommendations which were

voted on and adopted at the Special

General Meeting, in some cases late in

the evening and without any proper

debate. However, the majority view

was that the proper course of action

now was for the Council to adopt the

resolutions and on a vote the motion

was passed. Some of the changes will

require amendments to the Society's

Bye-Laws and draft amendments will

be placed before a further Special

General Meeting on 25th July, 1996.

3. Motion - Lawyer/Client

Privilege

"That this Council reviews the

policy of the Society with regard

to lawyer/client privilege

generally and the powers of the

Society in particular."

Proposer:

James McCourt

Seconder:

Hugh O 'Neill

This motion was adjourned to the June

Council meeting so that a paper could

be prepared in advance of the meeting

setting out the Society's legal powers

and its policy in relation to the

seeking of information verification

from client files in the course of

investigations by the Society's

investigating accountants.

4. Education Litigation

The Chairman of the Education

Committee reported in relation to the

proceedings being brought against the

Society by 811 law undergraduates

seeking judicial review of the

Society's educational decisions

following the High Court Judgment in

the Bloomer case. The proceedings

are being strenuously defended by the

Society.

5. Lay Members' Report

The Director General reported on the

second annual report which had been

made by the lay members of the

Registrar's Committee and which had

concluded that the Society operates a

fair and transparent complaints

procedure. The Report had been sent

to the Minister for Justice and

circulated, with a press release, to the

media where it had by and large been

positively reported.

6. Proposal to Adjourn half-yearly

General Meeting

The President outlined the reasons, to

do with avoidance of cost and

duplication of effort in having two

General Meetings only a short period

apart, why it was proposed to adjourn

the half-yearly General Meeting and

to be reconvened on the same date as

the scheduled Special General

Meeting of the Society on 25th July,

1996. It was agreed that this was a

common sense proposal and it was

adopted.

7. Industrial Action in Companies

Registration Office and Land

Registry

Industrial action by certain employees

in the Companies Registration Office

and in the Land Registry, in protect

against Government policy in relation

to a staff recruitment embargo, was

causing serious disruption to solicitors

and their clients. The Director General

| had written to a series of individuals

at Ministerial and other levels

demanding action to resolve the

problems, thus far without success.

The situation was being kept

constantly under review and it was

| agreed in principle to 'go public' on

the issue if at any stage it appeared

; this might contribute to an

improvement in the situation.

8. Personal Injuries Case

Conference/Draft Practice

Direction

Council noted the deep reservations of

j the Litigation Committee in relation to

a draft High Court practice note

proposing to introduce case

| conferences for personal injury

actions. The Litigation Committee

fears that if adopted it could result in

unnecessary work for solicitors and

for judges without any benefit for the

parties to the litigation.

| 9. Seminar on 'Law in the

Marketplace'

The President reported on the very

successful seminar on 'Law in the

Marketplace' which was held in