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PROFESSIONAL NEGLIGENCE INSURANCE
In his address last November Mr. McCarron dealt at
some length with the problem of professional negligence
insurance. I am very pleased
to be able
to confirm
that our Insurance Brokers, Messrs. Coyle & Co. have
been able to arrange extremely favourable terms for a
group Insurance Scheme with the Federated Employers
Insurance Association Ltd. The
Policv will
cover
Employers Liability, Public Liabilitv. Familv Legal
Liability and, most important, professional liability. I
have no doubt that when members learn the terms of
the policy and other details thev will be anxious to ioin
the group and of course the success of the scheme does
depend on a sufficiently large response being obtained.
The Administration of
the Scheme will be by Irish
Underwriting Agencies
Ltd.
and
each
Solicitors
Insurance wlil be dealt with individually through the
Insurance Broker of his choice. You will all have
received a circular
and further information will be
available through
the Secretariat or your
local Bar
Association.
THE SOCIETY'S GAZETTE
I hope that that members will appreciate the changes
being made in the Gazette. Soon you will find that it
will have a new cover and we hope that this is symbolic
of a fresh approach under the editorship of Mr. Colm
Gavan Duffy who has been to London to discuss the
whole project with
the Editor of
the English Law
Society Gazette. Mr. Gavan Duffy has been provided
with an Assistant in the Library which relieves him of
certain routine administrative duties and which I hope
improves the service of members.
LIAISON COMMITTEE
The Court of Examiners has on several occasions met
the elected representatives of the Solicitors Apprentices
on the Liaison Committee set up last year. We have had
full and frank discussions about the problems of the
students and have considered carefully all suggestions
made by them. The atmosphere at these meetings has
always been most friendly and I very much hope that
the
results will
justify
the
establishment
of
the
Comittee.
KING'S HOSPITAL
We are still uncertain of the precise date on which
we shall get possession of Kings Hospital but I think
it right that the members of the profession should know
that quite apart from
the
formidable capital
sum
required to make these magnificent premises suitable for
our needs, we shall very shortly be faced with heavy
cost of upkeep and maintenance. For some time these
costs will be in addition to the cost of maintaining our
present building and in future are likely to be on an
increased scale which will certainly involve a higher
subscription. The special Kings Hospital Committee is
hard at work considering these and other problems with
the help of the Finance Committee and in co-operation
with our Architect, Town Planning Consultant and
other professional advisors. This whole project
is
a
challenge and an expression of faith in the future of
this profession.
INTERNATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION
You will remember that in 1968 the Twelfth Biennial
Conference of the Association was held in Dublin and
this Society was the Host Organisation in Association
with the General Council of the Bar. It was generally
agreed that the Conference was a tremendous success
and the Council has decided that it is right and proper
that we
should be
represented
at
the Thirteenth
Conference to be held in Japan at the end of August. I
have just returned from two days in Palma as a member
of the Committee which had the task of arranging the
Agenda of the Conference in Tokyo. The Law Society
of England has chartered two planes to take European
delegates to Japan and I hope to attend the conference
with one or two others from Ireland who are able to
make this long journey. I shall report to you at the
end of my year of Office. It is hoped that the 1972
Conference will be in
the Netherlands and no doubt
many of our members will be anxious to attend.
In view of certain
recent
statements
about
the
necessity for the formation of a Solicitors Union I think
it
right
to
reiterate
the
fact
that
since
1965
the
Incorporated Law Society
has had
excepted body
status under the Trade LTnion Act 1941 and is there
fore empowered to negotiate
on behalf of members of
the profession who may need to be represented in respec.t
of any claim or dispute concering salaries and conditions
of employment
in
the service of Local Government
Auhorities and analarous bodies.
A glance at the annual report of the Council will
show that the activities of the Society on behalf of its
members and of the nublic are manifo'd and are bv no
means confined
to
the purely statutory functions of
registration and discipline. The suggestion in the press
that the law was the only profession which had not got
an organisation to look after the purely economic asnects
of its activities is not borne out by the facts. Indeed the
Solicitors profession is really not comparable to other
professions on
the economic front because no other
professions is subject to having its fees checked bv a
Government appointed official—the Taxing Master—and
schedules of cost
laid down by persons outside
the
profession. Also the profession
is unique
in
that the
members have to provide bv Statute out of their own
resources a Compensation Fund out of which claims
against defaulting Solicitors have to be met. Although
the number of such defaulters is very small indeed in
relation
to
the
total number of practising Solicitors
nevertheless it is a burden on individual solicitors to have
to contribute annually to this fund. It is however very
satisfactory to know that everyone who has proved a
claim against the Compensation Fund has been paid
in full.
But this is not the whole story. A Committee was set
up in Britain to consider the question of complaints,
their subject matter and the adequacy of the present
machinery for dealing with them. It was found that a
very high proportion of complaints originate in or involve
a failure to communicate. One of the reasons for this
is clearly as the report of the committee states is "the
profession does not always sufficienly realise
that its
services are no longer rendered mainly to those who are
accustomed
to
consulting
lawyers on
business
ana
family matters" or those who through ignorance will
accept the handling of their affairs without question. A
new kind of client consults a Solicitor—a client who