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Solicitors being admitted is
increasing. I need
hardly say that it is always difficult to make it
clear to the public that disbursements such as Land
Registry charges, stamp duty,, Court and Probate
fees are payments to the Exchequer and not to the
legel practitioner. All these items, unlike Solicitors'
fees, have risen sharply in recent years. I am glad
to note the alleviation in certain stamp duties in
the lower range introduced in the recent Budget.
The Government Third Economic Programme
There are some practises of the Society whether
hallowed by tradition or contained in statutory
provisions and regulations which may possibly
be described as restrictive practices. There is, of
course, a prevailing
trend
in public opinion
against
restrictive practises of all kinds. The
Government Third Economic Programme does
suggest that a number of our professional practices
should be reviewed and we may expect in the near
future
legislation which will
open
up
the
professions to examination by
the Fair Trades
Commission. Included in such a review would be
our professional monopoly both
in
regard
to
conveyancing and litigation, the question of fusion
of the solicitors profession and the Bar and the
Society's regulations which have been accepted by
the Courts
on
the
subject
of
undercutting,
advertising and attracting professional business. It
will be suggested that the level of professional
remuneration and the method of charging should
be examined both in regard to amount and method
and that commission scale fees which relate the
charges for professional service to the value of the
property are inequitable. The suggested principle
is that cross subsidisation whereby the profit on
conveyancing
is used
to subsidise the loss on
litigation
or
other
unprofitable
business
is
inequitable, and that no service should bear a
greater charge than the cost of giving it plus a
reasonable profit. It is quite clear that
if
this
principle were adopted one of two things would
have to occur. Either the cost of litigation and the
numerous small advisory services which solicitors
perform
for
their clients would have
to
be
increased
or
alternatively
it would
become
uneconomic for solicitors to supply these services.
The State should intervene to subsidise them by
legal aid or in some other way; otherwise the
public interest would be bound to suffer and the
first person to suffer would be clients of small
means for whom such services insignificant as they
may appear are vital.
As mentioned last year by my predecessor, the
Minister for Justice intends to establish a Com
mission
to enquire into
the entire question of
Solicitors' remuneration, being of the opinion that
the various Rule making committees are cumber
some and unsatisfactory and with this we must
agree. We have been assured by the Minister that
we will have a reasonable right of representation
on
the Commission and furthermore that any
findings will be laid on the table of the Oireachtas.
How to assemble the necessary information for
presentation to this Commission is receiving the
active consideration of the Council
through a
special sub committee, who have been in touch
with the Law Society in England, who as you
know have already appeared before the Prices
and Incomes Board there.
A firm of accountants expert in the field of
assembling
the necessary
information
for nn
enquiry of this kind has now been engaged and
they in turn, through the Society, will be seeking
the assistance of a cross section of Solicitors
throughout the country for relevant information.
When this stage has been reached the Council
will be most anxious to receive the wholehearted
co-operation of the profession.
Rent Act
1967
The Department of Justice has arranged to bring
in an amendment with
retrospective effect
to
Section 10 of the 1967 Act to avoid a difficulty
created by
the necessity of getting Landlord's
Consent to Assignment of long leases. I under
stand that the Department expect to have the Bill
introduced by next month. I
trust that there will
be no delay as this is a matter of vital importance
especially to Banks, Building Societies, Insurance
Companies and Mortgagees generally.
Youth Care
]
would like to take this opportunity of referring
to the report which the Council's sub-committee
on Reformatory and Industrial Schools in Ireland
published
last month. This memorandum has
been submitted to the Government's Commission
on Reformatories and Industrial Schools set up in
1967.
In particular, I endorse the recommendation
that a permanent team of experts be appointed to
continuously
advise
the Government
of
the
changing needs of deprived children committed to
institutions. The problem of delinquency is. by its
very nature, a complex and difficult field of