The Gazette 1993

SEPTEMBER 1993

Council to Consider Admissions Policy

Report of the Meeting of the

Law Society Council in July

The^Council of the Law Society is to

hold a one-day special meeting on

23 September next to give in-depth

consideration to admissions policy

and related education matters.

The Council decided on this step at its

meeting on 23 July last in order to give

sufficient time for consideration of a

motion proposed by Council Member,

Frank O'Donnell,

calling on the

Society to take all possible steps

necessary to ensure that the numbers

admitted to the Roll of Solicitors

annually were commensurate with the

needs of the community. The Council

will also consider a proposed

amendment to that motion from

Pat

O'Connor,

Council Member, which

calls on the Society to put in place, as

expeditiously as possible, an

assessment system which would

allocate places in the Society's Law

School on the basis of merit.

At the July meeting the Council

approved a proposed increase in

apprentices' fees of approximately 7%.

The Council also approved the

introduction of a fee of £50 on each

application for consent of the Society

to entry into indentures.

Lay Observers to the Registrar's

Committee

The Council of the Society approved

the nomination by IBEC (The Business

and Employers' Confederation) of

Mr.

Frank Bracken

and the nomination by

the Irish Congress of Trade Unions of

Ms. Leonora Mrkwicka

as lay obser-

vers to the Registrar's Committee.

Compensation Fund

The Council approved a schedule of

payments out of the Compensation

Fund amounting to £249,972 in total

(see report on page 257). The Council

also considered policy issues concern-

JS1

Council to consider motion ". . . to take

all steps necessary to ensure numbers

admitted... are commensurate with the

needs of the community".

ing the exercise of a discretion given to

the Society under Section 21(5)(a) of

the Solicitors Act, 1960, under which

the Society may make, or refuse to

make, a grant from the Compensation

Fund in a case in which a solicitor did

not have a practising certificate in force

at the time when, in the opinion of the

Society, the loss arose. The President of

the Society, the Director General and

the Chairman of the Compensation

Fund, agreed to prepare a detailed

memorandum of all the relevant facts

and arguments concerning the exercise

of the discretion, for further

consideration by the Council.

The Council noted the contents of the

Accountants' Certificate Report which

indicated that over 97% of the pro-

fession had complied with the obliga-

tion to return accountants' certificates.

Taxation

The Chairman of the Taxation Com-

mittee reported to Council on further

meetings that had been held with the

Revenue Commissioners in order to

clarify a number of points outstanding

in relation to the implementation of Part

VII of the Finance Act, 1992. He

reported that it had been agreed that

debt collection on behalf of local

authorities and other public bodies

would be exempt from the requirements

of the legislation. (This had been

requested by members of the profession

at the Special General Meeting held on

17 June last.)

With regard to section 59 notices

(Finance Act, 1974), the Taxation Com-

mittee Chairman said that the Revenue

Commissioners had indicated that they

would be prepared to introduce an

experimental procedure for a trial period

of six months under which, if a solicitor

considered that a full return would

require disclosure of highly sensitive and

exceptional personal information in relat-

ion to a client, then the solicitor could

make representations to the relevant unit

of the Revenue. Representations could

also be made by the Society, following

approaches by an individual solicitor, on

matters where, in the Society's opinion, a

full return could have consequences

contrary to the general public interest.

The Chairman reported that, having

exhausted the issue with the Revenue

Commissioners, the Taxation Committee

was reluctantly of the view that there was

no alternative to complying with the

requirements of section 59. Non-

compliance would inevitably result in

prosecution of solicitors and would gain

no sympathy in the public forum. A

number of Council members expressed

concern about solicitor-client

confidentiality and suggested that similar

guarantees regarding confidentiality to

those obtained from the Revenue Com-

missioners in relation to Part VII of the

Finance Act, 1992, should be sought in

relation to section 59. Following further

discussion the Council approved the

recommendation of the Chairman with

regard to section 59 Notices.

The President of the Society noted that

the Society's submission to the Minister

for Finance on the Tax Amnesty Bill had

been very successful. He also reported

on a meeting between the Alliance

Against Probate Tax and the Minister for

Finance and, although the Minister had

not guaranteed to reconsider the tax, the

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