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GAZETTF
OCTOBER 1994
P R E S I D E N T ' S
M E S S A G E
A c c e s s t o L a w - C o n c e r n o f
L a w y e r s W o r l d w i d e
"No man is an island alone unto
himself' is the oft-quoted extract from
John Donne's
famous 17th century
poem. This quotation can be
appropriately applied to the on-going
mutual relationship which the Law
Society of Ireland has, not only with
our neighbours, the Law Societies of
Northern Ireland, England/Wales and
Scotland, but also with similar
organisations further afield,
particularly the American Bar
Association (ABA) and the Canadian
Bar Association (CBA). Unlike our
neighbouring organisations, the ABA
and the CBA do not perform
regulatory functions (which are
carried out at state or provincial level
by separate statutory entities), but
otherwise the professional support
functions performed by all are broadly
similar.
At this year's ABA week-long
conference in New Orleans in August
(attended by some 12,000 US lawyers)
there were more than 2,500 individual
events or meetings. The CBA's week-
long conference in Toronto, also in
August, was somewhat smaller in
scale (some 3,000 Canadian lawyers
present) but still had a very varied
programme.
Despite their differences in scale
relative to our own, it may be of
interest to record that the major
concerns of both the ABA and CBA
reflect many of our own current
concerns - access to law, court
facilities and delay problems,
unemployment among new entrants,
maintenance of standards and public
image of the profession.
Access to Law
During the ABA Conference I signed
on behalf of the Society (subject to
ratification by the Council which took
place at its September meeting) the
terms of reference for a protocol of
co-operation between its signatories to
be known as the International
283
L-r: Michael V. O'Mahony, President, Law Society of Ireland with Cecilia I Johnstone,
out-going
President of the Canadian Bar Association and Frank Clarke, SC, Chairman of the Bar Council
of Ireland.
Consortium on Access to Law
(ICAL). In addition to ourselves and
the Bar Council of Ireland, the initial
participants (subject to ratification)
will be the national lawyers
organisations of Australia, Canada,
England/Wales, New Zealand,
Northern Ireland, Scotland and the
USA.
The full text of the terms of reference
for the ICAL are set out overleaf. As
recorded therein, the ICAL "is founded
on the common interest of its members
to ensure that their legal and judicial
systems are efficient, accessible and
cost-effective". These objectives will
be advanced by a sharing of
"knowledge about improvements to the
judicial system and the delivery of
legal services". The text states that
"lawyers and the legal profession have
a key role in achieving these
objectives" and that the protocol
"provides the framework for future co-
operation on these vital issues".
Understandably for an international
protocol intended to be applicable to
so many diverse jurisdictions, the
heads of its mandate are framed in
general terms. Notwithstanding this, I
believe the spirit and intent of the
protocol is clear and it to be hoped that
the mutual sharing of knowledge about
improvements to the judicial system
and the delivery of legal services as
they occur in each jurisdiction will
benefit the efforts of the Society and
all those concerned with the Irish
judicial system to bring about much
needed improvements here.
The primary force behind the ICAL
protocol was the out-going President
of the CBA,
Cecilia I Johnstone QC,
who was also a prime mover in
bringing about changes in attitude and
practice on the gender quality issue
within the Canadian legal profession.
The achievements of Cecilia during
her year of office were appropriately
recognised by the presence at the CBA
Conference of our own President
Mary
Robinson
(as part of her State visit to
Canada) who delivered the opening
keynote speech - a
tour deforce
address on the effects of the expansion
of Europe, post-Berlin Wall.
Court Facilities and Delay Problems
In this context, we know that we have
major problems, as identified in the