The Gazette 1993

GAZETTE

At the Half Yearly Meeting of the Society were l-r: Ciaran Keys, Solicitor, Galway;

Moya Quintan, Council member and Past President of the Society and Frank Daly,

I Council member and Chairman of the Taxation Committee.

rights of ordinary people to be properly

compensated when they suffer personal

injury through no fault of their own.

Amendment of Society's byelaws

The meeting approved amendments to

byelaw 6 of the Byelaws of the Society

in order to enable the scrutineers of the

annual election of members of the

Council of the Law Society to perform

their functions more effectively.

Part VII Finance Act, 1992

| The chairman of the Taxation Com-

| mittee,

Frank Dcrly,

briefed those

j attending the meeting on the progress of

! negotiations with the Revenue Commis-

j sioners concerning the provisions of Part

; VII of the Finance Act, 1992 . He out-

lined the progress that had been made in

discussions over a wide range of matters

which had caused concern to members

| of the profession. He informed the meet-

| ing that the Council of the Society had

| decided to hold a Special General

Meeting of the profession on 17 June,

1993 to consider the issue more fully.

Solicitors Retirement Fund

The chairman of the Solicitors Retire-

ment Fund,

Gerald Hickey

reported to

the meeting that 1992 had been a

| difficult year for investment. Overall

{ during that year pension funds increased

by a mere 1%. However, he was pleased

| to report that there had been a 6.1 %

Í increase in the Solicitors Retirement

| Fund. This was very favourable,

j especially when it was reviewed against

a Consumer Price Index increase for the

year of 2.4%. The current value of the

fund was approximately £21 m. There

j were 462 members of the fund of which

I 362 were under 50 years of age.

Solicitors Benevolent Association

I Andy Smyth,

chairman of the Solicitors'

Benevolent Association, thanked the

| Law Society and members of the

profession for their continuing support

| for the Association's work. Unfortun-

| ately, demands on the association were

| continuing to rise and had increased by

£50,000 per annum over the past seven

years, he said. He noted that during the

year the former secretary of the

Association,

Clare Leonard,

had been

appointed a Judge of the District Court

and said that he wished to place on

record the enormous amount of work

that she had done for the Association. He

thanked all those in the profession who

had got involved in golf competitions

around the country to generate funds for

the Association, and he complimented

all those who had been involved in the

fundraising production of "Trial by

Jury" by Gilbert and Sullivan in Green

Street Courthouse which had been a

great success. He said it was particularly

pleasing to see the involvement of both

| branches of the legal profession.

Any other business

I Under any other business,

Damien

Tansey,

Solicitor, asked why the Society

did not respond publicly in the

Sunday

Business Post

to comments attributed in

Í that paper to

James Osborne.

The

! President of the Society pointed out that,

since, at the time, a complaint had been

lodged with the Registrar's Committee,

that aspect of the matter could not be

dealt with publicly. The Council had

| also decided that there should be no

| public statement but that the President

! should deal with the matter by letter.

| Mr. Tansey asked whether, in combatt -

ing fraud, the Society would consider

! surprise spot checks on practices. The

assets of practices of deviant solicitors

I should be sold and the proceeds

transmitted to the Compensation Fund.

| The President said that the question of

spot ch'ecks was currently being

considered by the Compensation Fund

Review Committee. The Director

General of the Society,

Noel Ryan,

pointed out that as the law stands, the

Law Society had no power to sell a

practice against the wishes of a principal

and the Society hoped to have that

situation addressed in the forthcoming

I Solicitors Bill. The President of the

Society denied the implication by Mr.

Tansey that any deals were done with

solicitors who had acted fraudulently

j and said that the Society had a very stern

attitude to such solicitors.

Mr. Tansey also asked whether, given

the increase in numbers in the

profession, there was sufficient scrutiny

to ensure that masters were educating

I and training their apprentices properly.

The chairman of the Education

Committee,

Pat O'Connor,

assured Mr.

Tansey that there were frequent checks

| on masters. He shared Mr. Tansey's

view that it was getting more difficult to

obtain an apprenticeship and stated that

the Education Review Committee had

| made proposals on this issue which were

! currently being considered by the

I Council of the Society.

•

Barbara Cahalane.

NORTHERN IRELAND

AGENT

•j

* Legal woric undertaken on an agency basis

* All communications to clients through

instructing Solicitors

* Consultants in Dublin if required

Contact:

Seamus Connolly,

Moran and Ryan,

Solicitors

Arran House,

Bank Building,

35 Arran Quay,

Hill Street,

Dublin 7.

Newry, Co. Down.

Tel:(01) 8725622

Tel: (080693) 65311

Fax: (01) 8725404

Fax: (080693) 620%

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