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GAZETTE
NOVEMBER 1989
LAW SOCIET Y
ANNUAL
CONFERENC
1990
Thursday, 3rd May
to
Sunday, 6th May
1990
HOTEL EUROPE
KILLARNEY
CO. KERRY
Younger Members News
The Lisbon Link
The Portuguese Young Lawyers
Association held its Tenth Anni-
versary Conference in Lisbon from
3rd November to 5th November
1989. A group from the Younger
Members Committee of the Law
Society consisting of Miriam
Reynolds - Chairman, Justin
McKenna, Eva Tobin, Patricia Boyd
and Sandra Fisher flew out from a
cold and windy Dublin to attend the
Conference.
Warm weather and a warm
we l c ome greeted the
Irish
delegates. The programme was
short but lively, opening on the
Friday night with an address from
Francisco Pimentel, the Chairman
of the Portuguese Association. This
was followed by an elegant recept-
ion at Lisbon's magnificent City
Hall hosted by the Mayor.
The theme of the Saturday
mo r n i ng session was Young
Lawyers Associations and the Con-
ference was addressed by the
President of A.I.J.A., Hugo Pinheiro
Torres and papers were also read by
a French Lawyer and a Portuguese
Lawyer. We contributed by giving a
short account of how the Young
Members Committee functions in
Ireland and it emerged that our
Committee was unique amongst
Young Lawyers Associations in
Europe in that it is not independent
from the Law Society. The after-
noon session dealt with legal ethics
and papers were delivered by Karen
MacKenzie of England, Paolo
Panella from Naples and Rodolfo
Manuel Lavrador from Lisbon.
Many of the ethical problems
discussed were common to all the
jurisdictions represented but we
were surprised to discover that the
Portuguese Law Society has no
equivalent to our Compensation
Fund nor does it have a method
whereby a Portuguese Lawyer can
be struck off the Rolls.
The closing dinner took place on
the Saturday night in a former
palace, the present headquarters of
the Portuguese Red Cross. The
delegates were treated to some
impromptu Irish music and song!
The grand finale of the confer-
ence was the "Tagus Fluvial Tour"
on Sunday. A cruise with wonderful
views over the wide river of Lisbon,
its seven hills, its red tiled rooves,
riverside monuments, and passing
the earthquake-proof suspension
bridge.
Two important points were
gleaned from the conference.
Firstly, the need for language
training for Irish Lawyers. The
multi-lingual European delegates
put us to shame but it must be
pointed out that none of them
could f o l l ow our t oas ts " as
Gaeilge"! The second surprising
factor was that when one of our
•delegates injured herself after
falling on a wet and slippery floor,
where the proposed Defendant
would have had no answer on
liability, none of the Portuguese
Lawyers jumped forward to offer
his or her services. Needless to say,
all our Irish colleagues would have
been willing to act were it not for
the language barrier.
(Left to right): Eva Tobin, Patricia Boyd, Marian Bultarman, Sandra
Fisher, Justin McKenna, Isabel Magalahas Olavo, Niall Fogarty and
Mi r i am Reynolds.