The Gazette 1984

GAZETTE

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1984

Correspondence

The Editor

18 November, 1983

Law Society Gazette,

Blackhall Place,

Dublin 7.

Dear Sir,

I refer to your letter of 9 November, 1983 on the

question of accommodation available in this branch for

solicitors, who wish to discuss clients' affairs with our

officials.

There is in fact an interview room on the second floor,

which is available for such purposes. As it serves the entire

branch, you will appreciate that at times it may be

occupied when required. In such case the lobby of the

public office is used or, if the solicitor so requests, the

interview may take place at the official's desk if this would

give more privacy.

Yours sincerely,

M. P. O'Connor,

Assistant Secretary,

Capital Taxes Branch,

Office of the Revenue Commissioners,

Dublin Castle,

Dublin 2.

The Editor,

22nd December 1983

Law Society Gazette,

Blackhall Place,

Dublin 7.

Dear Sir,

Now that the Company/Commercial Law Referral

Service mentioned in the April/May issue of the

Gazette

has been in operation for a period of six months it would

be of considerable interest, particularly in a time of

recession, to members of the profession outside the 14

firms of Solicitors mentioned in the article to learn how

the scheme has worked in practice, both from the view-

point of the 14 firms operating the Referral Service and

from the viewpoint of the firms referring business to

them.

I wrote a letter to you, Sir, on the 1st June which was

intended for publication in the

Gazette.

I have since

understood from you that you felt that it was prudent for

the Editorial Board to inform the Company Law

Committee of this letter and I can readily appreciate the

reasons for this. My letter was intended to complain, not

about the principle of the Referral Service as such, but

about the way in which it has been sprung on the

profession through the medium of the

Gazette

without

prior consultation with the profession. In my view, the

original publication of the article (which was then

repeated) could present serious problems for the

profession as a form of public advertising for business by

the 14 firms, even if unintentional, especially as the

Gazette

is available to and widely consulted by persons

outside the profession. Furthermore, the article itself

contained a clear inference that the listed firms had some

unspecified expertise in Company and Commercial Law

which the firms not in the list did not possess or were too

indolent to apply.

In general the

Gazette

is not slow to publish correspon-

dence of interest to the profession which is also of a

controversial nature and I would instance Mrs. Flynn's

letter dated 25th May which appeared in the May 1983

issue. I would therefore invite the Chairman of the

Company Law Committee to respond publicly to the

matters raised in this letter.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Guinness,

Solicitor,

Maxwell Weldon & Darley,

19 & 20 Lr. Baggot St.,

Dublin 2.

The Editor,

6th January, 1984

Law Society Gazétte,

Blackhall Place,

Dublin 7.

Dear Sir,

Re: The Society of Young Solicitors.

Spring Seminar 1984

On behalf of the Society of Young Solicitors I would

like to remind Members that the Society's Spring Seminar

will take place in the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis on the

Week-end of the 7th and 8th of April next.

At the date of writing the Programme is not entirely

finalised. However, Max Abrahamson, Solicitor, will be

lecturing on Arbitration, Daniel O'Keeffe, B.L., will be

lecturing on Modern Banking Practice. There will also be

lectures on Divorce Law, and on the avoidance of Profes-

sional Negligence Claims within a Solicitor's practice.

Booking Forms should be enclosed with this issue of

the

Gazette.

Further Forms are available from the Law

Society or the Writer.

Claire M. Callanan,

(On behalf of the Society of Young Solicitors,)

Gerrard, Scallan & O'Brien,

Solicitors,

69/71 St. Stephen's Green,

Dublin 2.

The Editor,

14th December, 1983

Law Society Gazette,

Blackhall Place,

Dublin 7.

Dear Sir,

Victorian Motorists in Dublin

I would be much obliged for information concerning

the lives and times of Lawyers who were motorists in

Dublin during the period to 1905.

Who was the first Lawyer to own a motor car here?

The cultural collision between the horse and the

automobile emerged into the Law Courts and was well

reported in "The Irish Motorist" even before the Motor

Car Act of 1903.

Yours truly,

Cornelius F. Smith,

Chartered Accountant,

Modeshill,

34 Stillorgan Grove,

Blackrock,

Co. Dublin.