The Gazette 1987

GAZETTE

JULY/

UGUST

1987

First Solicitors' and Barristers'

Joint Conference — Wexford

" As the Barrister drives off merrily

into the sunset, he looks in his rere

view mirror and watches the client

impaling his Solicitor on the Court-

house railings."

This graphic image emerged in

the course of a discussion on one

of the average solicitor's most

heart-felt complaints about the Bar,

namely counsel's ability to vanish

when a case goes badly in Court,

leaving only the solicitor to face the

wrath of the client.

This was only one of the most

minor of a score of topics of

interest arising out of the relation-

ship be tween solicitors and

barristers which was examined and

discussed at the first ever weekend

con f e r ence

i nvo l v i ng

both

branches of the profession.

Perhaps the most remarkable

thing is not that this conference

happened but, rather, that it had

never happened before. To the out-

sider, it would have seemed per-

fectly natural that solicitors and

barristers wou ld meet for a

weekend, in this age of the Con-

ference. No one, after all, has more

in common with each other than

they have, being in reality two

branches of the same profession.

Ken Murphy*

It had never happened before in

Ireland, however. Indeed, insofar

as could be ascertained after

several enquiries, it had never

happened in Britain either. The

uniqueness and perhaps without

wishing to sound too pompous

about it, the historic nature, of the

joint conference held at the Talbot

Hotel, Wexford on 4th and 5th

April, 1987 by the Society of

Young Solicitors and the Junior Bar

deserves to be noted.

The idea for the conference was

first put by the writer of this article

to the then-Chairman of the Bar

Council, Patrick McEntee S.C.,

approximately a year ago. Once

certain details had been clarified,

Mr. McEntee enthusiastically sup-

ported the project and in turn

obtained the endorsement of the

Bar Council for it. Without this

support it could not have taken

place.

While the Society of Young

Solicitors

has existed

and

organised conferences for over 21

years, no equivalent organisation

exists to represent the Junior Bar.

ad hoc

committee was set up,

however, with three Solicitor re-

presentatives and three from the

Bar and this worked for several

months to make the necessary

arrangements. The bulk of the

daunting organisational work in

selling the idea for this conference

to an initially rather sceptical and

conservative market within the

Law Library was performed by the

Joint Chairman of the Conference,

Charles Meenan, B.L. These efforts

culminated in the extremely im-

pressive number of almost a

hundred barristers who attended in

Wexford.

While the majority of conference

delegates arrived in time to avail of

the Friday night bar extension and

disco, the conference proper

commenced on the Saturday

morning, under the chairmanship

of Charles Meenan, with a lecture

entitled "Recent Developments in

Personal Injury Litigation" given

jointly by Diarmaid 0 ' Donovan

S.C. and Gerard O ' Kee f f e,

Solicitor. This was a most en-

lightening, practical and enjoyable

exposition by t wo experts on

probably the single most important

area of litigation practice.

The real centrepiece of the con-

ference followed it at approxi-

mately 11.30a.m. and was entitled

" Op en Forum Discussion —

Towards a Better Understanding

between Solicitors and Barristers".

* Solicitor, member of Law Society

Council and Chairman of the

Society of Young Solicitors.

(left to right) Mr. Seamus McKenna, Chairman of the Bar Council;

Mr. Ken Murphy, Chairman of the Society of Young Solicitors;

Mr. Charles Meenan, Conference Organiser on behalf of The Junior

Bar and Mr. David R. Pigot, President of The Law Society.

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