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GAZETTE
N E WS
JUNE 1996
Report on Law Society Annual Conference
Jurys Hotel Cork, 9-12 May, 1996
The Annual Conference was held in
Cork this year and was superbly
organised from start to finish by
Mary
Kinsella
and
Mary Keane
of the
Society. Apart from line dancing,
"Riverdancing", formal dancing and
other extra curricular activities, three
excellent seminars were held.
The first seminar on family law was
addressed by
Rosemary
Horgan,
solicitor from the Law Centre, North
Mall, Cork. Rosemary g a ve a very
clear synopsis of s ome important
provisions of the Family Law Act
1995. In relation to Court jurisdiction,
she said that the Act n ow provided for
nullity matters to be heard in the
Circuit Family Court. She reminded
c o n v e y a n c e rs that Section 5 4
e f f e c t i v e ly places a statutory limitation
of six years on applications to declare
void a c o n v e y a n ce which d o es not have
spousal consent endorsed on it, unless
the non-consenting spouse is living in
the property. She emphasised in
particular, the new provisions wh i ch
enable Courts to make financial
compensation orders e.g. the
assignment of a life policy, or Pension
adjustment orders.
Dr.
Yvonne Scannell
from Arthur Cox
spoke at the Environmental Law
seminar. She discussed the liabilities
wh i ch can arise under statute or
c ommon law for unlawful pollution or
waste disposal. She reminded us that
most of the environmental statutes n ow
contain a standard provision imp o s i ng
criminal liability on directors and other
officers of a c omp a ny for
environmental o f f e n c es committed by
the c omp a n y. She advised
c o n v e y a n c e rs to ensure that all
environmental licences were in order
wh en purchasing an industrial or
factory premises. She recounted o ne
case where a c omp a ny purchased a
property and subsequently incurred a
liability of £1 million in c omp l y i ng
with the effluent licence requirements
of the local authority.
Kieran McCourt
from Bord Trachtala
g a ve the final address on Eastern
European Opportunities for Irish
Businesses. In summary, he advised
that Poland, Hungary and the Cz e ch
Republic were the strongest countries
e c o n omi c a l ly for business transactions.
Th e se countries were also the most
advanced in adapting, applying and
enforcing legal rules on investment. In
s ome countries from the old Soviet
bloc, laws might not be published until
six months after enactment. In Russia,
it is c ommon for legal opinions issued
in the context of investment
transactions to contain qualifications
excluding all laws that have not been
made public. In Albania, the legal
profession was e v en abolished between
1965 and 1990. Fortunately, no
politicians were present to pick up this
idea! European union grants may be
available for certain projects through
the Phare and Tascis programmes for
Eastern Europe. The contact persons
regarding these grants are
Pat
Mangan
of the Department of Tourism and
Trade or
Charles Kelly
of An Bord
Trachtala.
The conference was also attended
by a number of our c o l l e a gu es from
neighbouring jurisdictions, including
the Presidents of the Law Society of
England and Wales, the Law Society
of Scotland and the Law Society of
Northern Ireland. It was a most
entertaining, enjoyable and sociable
f ew days for members and their
spouses.
John Costello
•
At a recent Parchment Ceremony Kirsten Brennan was presented with her parchment not by
the President, but by the Law Society Director General, Ken Murphy. Kristen Brennan had been
apprenticed to Ken Murphy before he left A & L Coodbody to become Director General.
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