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GAZETTE
N E WS
NOVEMBER 1996
New editor for the
Gazette
The
Law Society Gazette,
which will be
90 years old next year, has a new editor
- an experienced journalist who
promises to turn the journal into a
'vibrant monthly magazine'. Conal
O' Boyle is the former editorial manager
at Cork Publishing and deputy editor of
Certified Accountant,
a monthly
magazine with an international
circulation of 60,000. Prior to this, he
worked as a reporter, feature writer,
sub-editor, and accountancy editor on a
weekly public sector magazine in
London.
Under his stewardship,
Certified
Accountant
swept the boards at last
year's
Irish Independent!
Communicators in Business magazine
awards, winning first prize for writing,
certificate of excellence in design and
overall award for best editor. This year
the magazine won first prize for design,
and a certificate of excellence for
writing.
'The
Gazette's
been around for a long
time', says O'Boyle, 'and has a proud
history of serving the legal profession.
But the profession is changing and the
magazine must change with it to reflect
the confidence and professionalism of
the Law Society's members. The
Gazette
is generally regarded as worthy,
but boring and academic: I hope to
change all that'.
The new editor plans to launch a
redesigned magazine early in the New
Year. Some of the planned
improvements include:
• Greater use of colour and
photographs
• Introducing a discrete 'one-stop
shop' professional information
section that will aim to meet all the
regulatory and professional needs of
members
• Making articles more interesting and
accessible by using plain English and
avoiding jargon.
• Separating opinion and fact in news
and feature articles
• Redesigning the magazine and impos-
ing a recognisable structure on it.
'I will be commissioning more external
contributors, including controversial
and topical columnists, with a view to
stimulating debate on the main issues of
the day', says O'Boyle. 'Readers may
not necessarily agree with the views
New editor: Conal O'Boyle
expressed, but I hope they will always
find them thought-provoking'.
'The Society owes a great debt of
gratitude to Mary Kinsella who, as
acting editor, has held the journal
together for the last 12 months. I look
forward to working closely with her as
we chart a new course for the
Law
Society Gazette'.
•
Cahalane joins English Law Society
The Law Society's former public
relations executive Barbara Cahalane
has been appointed director of
communications at the English Law
Society. Cahalane spent three years at
Blackhall Place, where she also edited
the
Gazette,
before moving to London
in 1994 to take over as head of public
relations at the Chartered Association of
Certified Accountants. Commenting on
the appointment, English Law Society
President Tony Girling described
Cahalane as 'clearly the most
outstanding candidate'. She takes up her
new position on 9 December.
• Meanwhile, a motion to split the
English Law Society's representational
and regulatory roles was
overwhelmingly defeated in a postal
ballot. Members voted 14,199 to 8,881
against the proposal. The total poll was
24,317 - just under 30% of the 81,580
solicitors entitled to vote. The result was
welcomed by the English Law Society,
which described the motion as
'potentially damaging'. English
President Tony Girling said: "The
profession has sent a clear message that
solicitors do value self-regulation and
that they believe the interests of
solicitors are inextricably linked to the
interests of their clients. It is time to
draw a line under this divisive and
costly argument".
Of interest
It is the time of year when solicitors
receive not only the bills for indem-
nity insurance and practising certifi-
cates but, in many cases, letters from
finance houses inviting you to avail of
a facility to finance these expenditures
by spreading the costs over 12 months
using a fixed loan facility.
Solicitors should be aware that at
least some finance houses are quoting
rates of interest which appear very
attractive but which on examination
turn out not to be the APR rate. In at
least one case, the APR rate has turn-
ed out to be almost twice the rate
quoted in the letter.
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