The Gazette 1984

GAZ E T TE

APRIL. 1984

Authority. In strict legal practice, this means that

the Borrower, who, in Mr. Carroll's own words, is a

person who might not otherwise be able to provide

his own home, is forced to close the purchase on

bridging finance so that he has title to execute the

Mortgage to the Local Authority.

2. Some, if not all. Local Authorities appear to require

that the Deed of Assurance to the Borrower be

stamped before they will release the loan cheque to

their own solicitors. This means that the Borrower

has to provide anything up to £ 1,000 stamp duty in

advance of the closing when in fact he is entitled to

borrow 90% of the stamp duty and legal costs from

the Agency.

Both these points give the impression that the

machinery for obtaining loan cheques was dreamt up by a

bureaucrat rather than a lawyer and the effect is to

negative the advantages of the Housing Finance Agency

Scheme with regard to the lending of stamp duty and legal

fees in addition to the purchase price of the house and to

put the Borrower in a very difficult position with regard to

the obtaining of bridging finance and short-term finance

for the above purposes.

Yours faithfully,

Kirwan & Kirwan,

Solicitors,

1 Rowe St., Wexford.

22nd February, 1984

Dear Sir,

As a Member may I through your column object to a

representative of the Council of the Incorporated Law

Society stating to a Law Students Congress (as reported in

the

Irish Times

of Monday, 20th February) that Solicitors

are widely seen by the public "as elitist money-grabbing

crooks". No evidence is adduced by our colleague that the

public perceive us as such and to say that they do so does

nothing to enhance our reputation.

There are of course, certain persons both in the media

and in the political arena who do not have a high regard

for the Profession but they do not constitute the public

nor can they be said to speak for them. Although there is

room for much needed reform in legal practice and

although there may be a small minority of Solicitors who

do not meet the required standards of the Profession, this

does not justify the bald statement that Solicitors are

perceived as " c r ook s ".

The speaker does not highlight the compensation fund

established to protect the public against fraud and heavily

contributed to by Solicitors nor does he highlight the

extra disciplinary powers now being sought by the Society

from the Government. He should also have mentioned

that there is a responsibility on the public in choosing a

Solicitor to satisfy themselves both as to his competence

and expertise and perhaps also as to whether he carries

Professional Indemnity Insurance.

It is my contention that the stage has not yet been

reached whereby the public perceive our Profession as

described by our Council Member but unless serious

consideration is given by Practitioners to their public

image that day may not be far away.

Yours sincerely,

Vincent Crowley,

Solicitor,

77 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.

Walter Conan Ltd.,

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