The Gazette 1993

GAZETTE

SEPTEMBER 1993

Correspondence

The Editor,

Gazette,

Irish Events

Law Society President,

Raymond

Monahan

; Senior Vice-President,

Michael O'Mahony,

and immediate

Past-President,

Adrian Bourke,

led the

Society's campaign at the ABA

conference to promote the services

available from Irish lawyers to

American firms which have business

to do in Europe. The Irish Consul

General in New York,

Donal Hamill,

and his wife,

Bernadette,

hosted a

reception for the Irish delegation

which was attended by prominent

ABA members arid Irish-American

legal contacts.

The Law Society, in conjunction with

the International Law & Practice

Section of the ABA, hosted a

showcase luncheon on Monday 9

August. The President of the High

Court, the Hon. Mr. Justice

Liam

Hamilton,

(kindly filling in at short

notice for

Dr. Garret FitzGerald

who

was indisposed), addressed the

luncheon on the theme "The Influence

of the American Constitution and the

European Court of Justice on Irish

Law". The influence of American

constitutional jurisprudence had been

benign and persuasive, said the Judge,

who traced its influence particularly

with regard to recognition and

development of unenumerated

personal rights in the Irish

Constitution. However, the influence

of the European Court of Justice could j

not be regarded as benign as to a

certain extent the Irish courts had

had to cede jurisdiction to the ECJ,

he said.

Members of the Law Society

delegation were guests of honour at

the ABA Gavel Media Awards

luncheon where ABA President,

Michael McWilliams,

especially

recognised the winner of the Society's

inaugural Justice Media Awards

competition, freelance journalist,

Anne O'Carroll.

When asking her to

stand to accept a round of applause,

the ABA President quipped that the

first prize in the Society's Justice

Media Awards competition had been a

week at the ABA, while the second

prize had been two weeks!

Weird, Wacky and

Wonderful

Delegates attending the ABA Annual

Conference had a choice of 2,619

seminars dealing with every

imaginable law-related topic.

Seminars such as "Are My Genes Off

Limits", "Till Death Do Us Part:

Spousal Elective Share Reforms",

"Why is my Client Nuts? - an Enquiry

into the Psycho-dynamics of

Divorce", "Beer Regulation - Current

Issues", competed for delegates'

attention alongside more conventional

programmes such as "Legal Trends

and Issues in the 90s and Beyond",

"Service Quality as the Ultimate

Marketing Strategy", and "Advancing

Justice: is there Justice for All?"

But many delegates attending agreed

that the real value of the conference

was the chance to network with

professional colleagues. As one

delegate from New Orleans put it "as

lawyers we face the same problems

wherever we are." ABA President, J.

Michael McWilliams, told delegates

at the Opening Assembly "this

experience is your chance to exchange

views with lawyers from around the

world or around the corner."

•

What's in a Name?

Seymour Chase,

a lawyer from

Hackensack, New Jersey, believes that

the American Bar Association should

change its name because the general

public does not associate the word

"bar" with lawyer. "An informal

survey of six people on a street corner

would show that five out of the six

don't know that "bar" means

lawyers," he said. "We should change

the name of the association to the

American Lawyers Association

because the public doesn't associate

us with what we do."

•

Barbara Cahalane

Re: Compulsory Irish requirement

| Dear Editor

! I was interested to read the response

of Anton Delap Uas. to some of the

! comments attributed to me in the May

| issue of the

Gazette

on the

compulsory Irish requirement for

solicitors. He referred to one aspect of

the overall matter which I discussed.

It was not nor is it my intention to

"undermine the daily effectiveness

and usage" of the Irish language "in

the legal system". I simply stated what

I understand is the factual position. If

Mr Delap is in a position to furnish

me and the Education Committee with

substantial corroborative evidence that

| there is a consistent and growing

demand by solicitors' clients to

conduct their business through the

i medium of Irish then we will be

happy to take that into account in the

Education of solicitors' apprentices.

I also invite Mr Delap and those who

have a genuine interest in the Irish

! language to suggest in specific rather

than in general terms the "constructive

;

approach" that the Law Society

should adopt in future examinations in I

the Irish language. He might also spell

out what he thinks are the "practical

needs of the profession".

Regretfully, when specialist courses

were suggested in the past to those

whom we thought were concerned

with fostering the language they were

rejected, while CLE courses in the

Irish language specifically tailored

towards improving the practical

Í knowledge of the profession had to be

abandoned due to lack of interest.

Yours etc.,

Patrick O'Connor

Chairman

Education Committee

•

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