The Gazette 1976

GAZETTE

NE/J

1976

Paris Convention

(Continued from p. 78)

(4) The terms of the collaboration shall be within

the spirit of the law.

(5) No c o l l a bo r a t es shall be obliged to share the

use of a room except, in the case of an avocat stagiaire,

where it is considered to be valuable to the acquisition

of professional experience when the period of sharing

shall not exceed one year.

The following particulars of any contract entered

into (whether under A, B or C above) between an

avocat and a solicitor shall be lodged with the Ordre

des Avocats :

(1) The names and addresses of the contracting

parties.

(2) The nature of the contract (A, B or C above).

(3) A specimen of the notepaper to be employed as

a consequence of the arrangement.

(4) Duration of the contract.

(5) In case of an association an explanatory note of

the method used for the calculation of profit shares.

(6) A copy of the arbitration clause which shall

provide for arbitration by the Batonnier and the Presi-

dent of The Law Society.

Some comments on the Convention between

the English Law Society and the Paris Bar

The Bilateral Convention between The Society and the

Paris Bar signed on 12 April goes far beyond any

previous agreement concluded between two Bars. It

also goes further than the Draft Directive which the

EEC Commission have proposed for Lawyers' Services

as defined in the Treaty of Rome since that Directive is

only concerned with the occasional crossing of frontiers

by a lawyer to serve the interests of a particular client.

The Convention signed on 12 April takes a first step

towards "establishment" of a member of one of the two

professions who has an office in the country of the

other : either the avocat with a bureau in England in a

solicitor's office or a barrister's chambers or on his own

or the solicitor who has an office, either on his own or

in the bureau of a Paris avocat. The Convention looks

forward to even closer working relationships between

respective members although, for these, changes in the

Solicitors' Practice Rules and in the Solicitors Act,

1974 will be necessary.

The Convention is forward-looking as it seeks to

facilitate greater international activity by solicitors and

thus is positive in its approach. With the Royal Com-

mission in mind its importance lies in enabling solicitors

to extend their activities as the needs of clients require

and thus to provide a more comprehensive service.

Another feature of the Convention is that it means

that solicitors are now fully recognised by the leading

Bar of France. Hitherto, one of the tasks which The

Society has undertaken even since British membership of

the EEC was first mooted, has been to explain to the

Continental Lawyer and public the place of the solicitor

in the English legal system. Barristers were, at the out-

set, better understood as their functions of advice and

court appearance made them recognisable to avocats

whereas the solicitor with his far wider activities was

more difficult to place. In the French system, he was at

one time equated with the.avoué (a class now curtailed

in France); even when he was recognised as having a

separate existence, his status was inferior to that of the

Bar. One of the most important changes was represented

by the agreement in 1971 that Solicitors and Barristers

alike should have the right of audience before the

European Court (with certain minor exceptions by

agreement with the Bar so far as solicitors were con-

cerned). Furthermore, the work of The Society at the

Commission Consultative des Barreaux de la Commun-

auté Européenne (of which the United Kingdom was

an observer member until joining the Communitv

and an active participating member thereafter) has

done much to inform legal quarters in the EEC and

elsewhere of the position of solicitors. Work on the

draft Directive on Lawyers has proceeded very largelv

on the basis of placing the solicitor in the system and

ensuring that the Directive does not adopt a policy

which would cut down the services which the solicitor

at present is able to give to his clients.

Thus, the Convention with the Bar of Paris looks

beyond the boundaries of that City and towards the

other EEC countries and underlines the fact that in the

United Kingdom, it is the Solicitor and the Barrister

or avocat who together make up the legal profession,

a fact which the Declaration signed at Bath between

the English Bar and The Society last November had

already made clear in formal terms.

The question which was put several times by Paris

Avocats after the signing ceremony on 12 April, was

what effect in practice the new Convention might have.

This remains to be seen, but one thing of which we can

be sure is that the opportunity for closer working

together now exists and that the way has been pre-

pared, for those who wish to follow it, of broadening

the service which they give on behalf of their clients.

The Convention is thus an important event in the his-

tory of the profession.

Correspondence

Land Registry, Central Office,

Chancery Street,

Dublin 7.

25th May 1976.

James J Ivers, Esq.,

Director General,

The Incorporated Law Society of Ireland,

Four Courts,

Dublin 7.

Dear Mr. Ivers.

At the recent meeting with members of your Council

on mapping difficulties the importance of accuracy in

the preparation of maps for lodgment with applications

in the Land Registry was agreed. It is important that

maps should be signed by the persons preparing them

and it is suggested that solicitors should ensure that this

is done before the application is lodged

It is also most important that original maps should

show the location of physical marks'on the ground. If

property corners are not marked on the ground the

possibility of subsequent conflict of boundaries is

greatly increased.

Yours sincerely,

Nevin Griffith,

Registrar.

\Editor's Note

—While

the signing of maps is not a

Rule, the Council asks that the request of the Registrar

be complied with, if at all possible.]