324 / 432
GAZETTE
OCTOBER 1994
The firm constantly monitors its own
performance and discusses the future
of the business, conducting regular
six-monthly reviews which include an
analysis of where new files have come
from and comparisons with the
previous six month period. Part of the
review process includes auditing
client satisfaction with the firm.
While the firm does not advertise, it
communicates regularly with clients
by keeping them up-to-date with
information that is relevant to them
such as briefing memoranda on new
legislation. The firm occasionally
engages in some corporate
entertainment but on a modest scale.
Pat Barriscale feels that the outlook
for practice generally is very
uncertain. In particular, he feels that
degree of competition and price
undercutting in conveyancing is
making it very difficult now to pursue
conveyancing on a profitable basis.
However, he believes that a large firm
such as Holmes O'Malley Sexton must
continue to offer the full range of
legal services to clients.
Despite the competitive pressures, Pat
Barriscale feels optimistic about the
future. While he considers that the
image of the profession as a whole is a
rather poor one, he is in favour of the
policy being pursued by the Law
Society of being transparent about its
disciplinary procedures. Although in
his opinion the publication of
prosecutions against solicitors can
lead to poor publicity, he believes that
it is beneficial that the public sees that
the profession is serious about
policing itself.
Pat Barriscale believes there are no
easy solutions to some of the
difficulties that are facing the
profession: many of them require a
long-term strategy. However, he
thinks that in recent years the Law
Society has become more professional
and forward-thinking in its approach
and has begun to get to grips with the
problems facing the profession.
O'Donnell Dalton Hogan
The firm of O'Donnell Dalton Hogan
occupies premises which were
formerly a Presbyterian Church
erected at the turn of the century. The
interior has been reconstructed in a
striking manner, creating a modern
office environment without doing
violence to the architectural features
of the former church. The main aisle
of the church is now a spacious
corridor and grafted on to the pillars
of the side aisles are a number of
consultation rooms. An open plan
staircase leads to a newly-created
upper balcony, where the fee-earners
have individual work areas built
in to the arches of the church. The
effect is open-plan, but each arch
creates a "private space" with
natural sound proofing for its
occupant.
The manner of dealing with clients
has been determined by the
architectural structure. All clients are
seen in a consultation room and the
solicitor meets them there rather than
in his office area, bringing the
relevant files down to the consultation
room.
Jim O'Donnell,
a partner in the
firm, confirmed that clients are
impressed by the premises. He says
that the concept of seeing clients in
consultation rooms works well as it
allows the practitioner to concentrate
for that time solely on the client and
his file only, while the semi open-plan
work area allows the fee earners to
keep in touch with one another.
The firm engages in advertising,
mostly in local newspapers, believing
that it is necessary in the current
climate. In addition, the firm engages
in some sponsorship, mostly of
sporting events, usually in response to
requests from clients and geared
towards maintaining existing client
contacts.
Concerning the outlook for practice,
Jim O'Donnell
says in his opinion the
profession has been growing too fast,
resulting in gross undercutting in
many areas of practice. "This leads
me to believe that some practitioners
are taking the short term view of
trying to attract clients in the door as
opposed to the longer term view of
concentrating on giving a good
service to clients."
Jim O'Donnell maintains that the only
way for a firm to cope with increased
competition is to keep the standard of
service to clients high. "Practices that
concentrate on service to clients will,
like the cream, always stay on top,"
he says.
Jim O'Donnell is a supporter of the
Law Society. "I am one of, probably,
the few people who thinks the Law
Society has the interests of the
profession at heart but, nonetheless, I
think it has made mistakes along
the way."
He feels that one of the mistakes has
been the opening of the "sluice gates"
and believes that the Law Society
should do all in its power to limit the
intake of new recruits to the
profession to a level that the market
can sustain.
Concerning the public image of the
profession, he feels that the profession
is weathering criticism quite well but
that more should be done to make the
public aware that the practise of law is
an essential profession which serves
the public interest. He believes that
members of the profession have
worked quite hard to throw off the
"fat cat" image but that this
momentum needs to be sustained.
He is positive about the outlook for
the profession, and says that for him
personally the satisfaction of
practising law comes from grappling
with the difficult case and seeing it
come right in the end.
Leahy and O'Sullivan
Leahy and O'Sullivan is one of
Limerick's longest standing firms, its
origins dating back as far as 1830. The
firm in its present composition was
founded in 1958 and occupied a
number of premises in Limerick
before it moved to Mount Kennett
House in 1992.
A quiet hum of wordprocessors and
photocopiers greets the visitor to the
spacious reception area with its
polished wooden floor, leather sofas
and cartoon prints of maxims for the
Bar on the walls. (Example "always
laugh at his Lordship's jokes.
It is not upon such an occasion that
300