129 / 342
MAY 1987
of the profession generally. On this
issue, it was agreed on all sides
that the level of co-operation bet-
ween the representative bodies,
namely the Bar Council and the
Council of the Incorporated Law
Society, had been far from good in
the past. Peter Shanley, who is a
member of the Bar Council, gave a
powerful exposition of the dangers
faced by both branches of the pro-
fession if there is a failure to com-
municate jointly and convincingly
the merits of our respective posi-
tions (in the interests of both the
public and ourselves) to the
Restrictive Practices Commission
which is currently investigating the
legal profession.
Michael Houlihan also expressed
regret at the misunderstandings
and lack of co-operation which had
too often in the past characterised
relations between the Bar Council
and the Council of the Incorporated
Law Society and, in a view echoed
by three other former Presidents of
the Law Society who were present
and spoke, welcomed the con-
ference as a stepping stone to
much better relations. One area
of vital mutual interest in which
a joint approach would be par-
ticularly we l come is public
relations.
This particular session of the
conference had been due to end so
that people could go for lunch at 1
o'clock. Such was the level of im-
portance which all present attach-
ed to the debate, however, that
absolutely no one left the room un-
til a halt was finally called by the
chairman at 1.35!
What had taken place was
generally agreed to have been an
extraordinarily stimulating and long
overdue discussion of matters of
vital interest to the profession as a
whole.
Soc i al Events
Attention switched afterwards
to the more relaxing social aspects
of the weekend activities. As the
tennis tournament had to be
cancelled because of the inclement
weather, the TV set in the bar
became the focus of attention as
all were united in their support for
an event
almost
as unique as the
conference — the Irish rugby team
beating Wales in Cardiff.
The sight of what was on display
in the hotel swimming pool (the
so-called 'corpus of the law-yer!')
it was remarked, constituted a
powerful case for the retention of
the wig and gown by barristers
at all times and perhaps even
their compulsory extension to
solicitors!!
The Final Day
On the Sunday morning, we
were treated to a brilliantly enter-
taining series of reminiscences
of days gone by in the legal pro-
fession in Ireland by Mr. Justice
Niall McCarthy of the Supreme
Court under the title "The Way
we We r e ". This a t t r ac t ed a
very full audience particularly in
view of what for some was the
excessive enoyment of the dinner
dance on the previous evening
where the dance floor was
still full at 3.30a.m., and the
bar did not close until much much
later.
When it was all over there
was a general feeling that the
conference represented a break-
through in relations between the
two branches of the profession,
that the mutual suspicion and
coolness of the past must now
be buried, that the younger
members of both branches had
given a lead where their elders
had failed and above all else a
belief that this initiative must be
built on with further conferences
and other joint activity in the
future.
Was it legitimate for the fear to
exist in some quarters that the
mere fact that a conference such
as this was held at all represented
the thin end of the wedge for the
ultimate fusion of both branches of
the profession?
" Fus i on?
Certainly
n o t " ,
responded Chairman of the Bar
Council, Seamus McKenna, S.C.
He allowed his eyes to linger a
while on the dance floor, where
scores of barristers and solicitors
were giving practical expression to
the spirit of the conference (while
Gerard O'Keeffe on the stage
attempted to reincarnate Elvis
Presley), before adding, "except
perhaps in the purely physical
sense!"
•
/
x
In Brief
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