203 / 432
GAZETTE
N E W S
JULY 1994
Counc il Approves 'Mi xed'
Law Degrees
At its meeting on 27 May, the Council
of the Society decided to recognise the
subject content of certain law degrees
for the purpose of exemption from the
Society's Final Examination - First
Part (FE-1). The Council noted that, in
previous years, the Society had
encouraged universities to broaden
their law courses. A number of
universities now provided 'mixed' law
degrees, offering, for example, a
combination of law subjects and
languages, or legal and business
subjects. The Council's decision was
taken on the basis that the course
content of the legal subjects that
would qualify for an exemption from
the FE-1 was in line with the
requirements laid down in the Law
School syllabus.
One Council member dissented from
the decision. He took the view that
recognition would lead to an increase
in the numbers seeking admission to
the Law School. However, the
Council noted that the students taking
the mixed law degrees in the main
followed exactly the same courses,
lectures and exams for their law
subjects as students who were
following a standard BCL or LLB
degree course. Therefore, there was
no argument on the grounds of
standards for opposing the granting of
exemptions in appropriate
circumstances.
Progress on Solicitors Bill at
Committee Stage
Probate services by banks
The President of the Society,
Michael
V. O'Mahony,
informed the Council
that the Committee Stage of the
debate on the Solicitors (Amendment)
Bill, 1994 had concluded on 10 May.
The Society had made significant
progress on a number of issues of
concern. Most notably, the sections in
the Bill that would have permitted
banks and financial institutions to
provide conveyancing and probate
services had been deleted. There
would still be a provision that would
permit credit unions to provide
probate services. The President said,
however, that it was doubtful whether
credit unions would do so, because
there were very strict provisions
requiring them to provide safeguards
for members, compensation
arrangements and also a ban on such
activities providing a form of cross-
subsidisation of the cost of other
services offered by them.
Cap on Compensation Fund
The Government had retained the
provision of a cap on claims on the
Compensation Fund, but was re-
considering the level of the cap in the
light of suggestions from Opposition
Deputies. Democratic Left had
suggested deleting the cap, Fine Gael
had suggested setting the cap at
£350,000 and the Progressive
Democrats had suggested £500,000.
The President said he was hopeful that
the Government would hold the level
of the cap at the existing level or that,
at most, there would be an increase to
around £300,000.
Contributions to Compensation Fund
The Council was informed that
Section 30(2) of the Bill, which would
have permitted the Society to set
different rates of contribution to the
Compensation Fund for different
categories of solicitors had been
deleted. A new subsection would
provide that solicitors who resided
outside the State and provided legal
services outside the State only would
not have to contribute to the
Compensation Fund in order to obtain
a practising certificate.
Fee Advertising
The President informed the meeting
that the Government had not been
persuaded to delete the section of the
Bill which would prevent the Society
from prohibiting the advertising of
fees. He informed the meeting that the
Society was now seeking the inclusion
of a provision that would allow for a
review of the section after two years.
The provision would enable the
Society, with the consent of the
Minister, to prohibit fee advertising
where the Minister was satisfied that
fee advertising was not operating in
the public interest.
Charging of Fees
Section 68(8) of the Bill, obliges a
solicitor, on tendering a bill of costs,
to inform the client in writing of the
client's right to submit the bill to
taxation and/or to make a complaint to
the Society that the bill was excessive.
The President said that he was hopeful
that at Report Stage the Government
would be persuaded that this provision
need only operate in cases where a
dispute had arisen between the
solicitor and the client.
Good progress on Solicitors Bill
Council members expressed
satisfaction on the progress made on
the Bill, particularly in relation to the
deletion of the sections concerning
conveyancing and probate, while there
was disappointment that, despite the
Society's best efforts, the Government
had not changed its view on fee
advertising.
It was suggested that the Society
should collate details of all complaints
concerning fee advertising received
and present them to the Government
for the purpose of the two year
review, if this was eventually agreed.
"Capping" of Compensation
Awards"
The Director General reported to
Council that he had attended the
annual lunch of the Irish Insurance
Federation, at which the Minister of
State for Commerce and Technology,
179