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That the Council should approve of the following
rule in regard to acting for both parties :
(i) Where property is advertised for sale by
public auction neither the solicitor for the
vendor nor his partner or assistant shall act
for the purchaser of such property in connec
tion with the sale thereof contracted before
auction, at the auction, or within six months
after the auction and the purchaser shall be
bona fide
represented by an
independent
solicitor.
(ii) That a regulation giving effect to this rule
shall be made under section 73 of the Solicitors
Act, 1954, to come into effect on the ist July,
1962.
Television and radio broadcasts by solicitors
The Council have approved of the following
statement relating to radio and television appearances
by solicitors, for the guidance of members :
(i) A solicitor may take part in a broadcast
without television on a non-legal subject
under his own name but his professional
occupation should not be disclosed.
A
solicitor invited to take part in a broadcast
on a legal subject should ensure that he will
be described as " Solicitor " or in some other
term which will preserve his anonymity and
his name should not be disclosed.
(ii)
(a)
A solicitor may take part in a television
broadcast on a non-legal subject and may
appear and be
introduced by name
without reference
to
his
professional
occupation.
(b)
A solicitor who is invited to participate in
a television programme on a legal subject
should apply to the Society for permission.
Such permission, if given, will be generally
on condition that complete anonymity is
preserved both as regards the name of
the solicitor and his professional occupa
tion. Permission to appear with a reference
to the name or professional occupation of
the solicitor, or both, may be given if the
Council are satisfied that the interests and
prestige of the profession or the interests
of the public require it, or if the broad
casting authority particularly wish for
some good reason that the name of the
speaker with or without his profession
should be disclosed.
(iii) The Council will normally issue such per
mission only on an undertaking by
the
solicitor not to accept any new client whom
he knows or has reasonable ground for
thinking may have come to him as a result
of the T.V. broadcast.
(iv) If correspondence results from a broadcast
or television appearance the solicitor should
write over a pen-name if he
appeared
anonymously and in other cases over his own
name. In no case should such correspondence
be conducted on his professional stationery.
Normally
the correspondence should be
conducted on the stationery of the broad
casting authority whether the topic is of
a legal or other nature.
Solicitor giving evidence on behalf of client
The Council considered a case where member was
asked to give evidence on behalf of a defendant in
a road traffic prosecution in which he acted for the
defendant and his retainer was subsequently with
drawn. Member thought that there might be some
objection on the part of the District Justice and he
asked a colleague to interview the Justice privately
and suggest that the case might be heard to a
conclusion and if his evidence was not necessary the
matter might be disposed of.
If his evidence was
considered necessary the suggestion was that the
matter would be adjourned for the opinion of the
Council.
The District Justice agreed
to
this
suggestion and heard the case to the stage where
the defendant's solicitor called member to
the
witness box. The further hearing was then adjourned.
The Council, on a report from a committee, stated
as its opinion that there would be no professional
objection to member giving evidence at the request
of his client. The only question that might arise is
one of privilege but in this case the client had
requested the solicitor to give evidence and by so
doing had waived his privilege.
The privilege
exists for the benefit of the client and the client is
entitled to waive it if he wishes.
INCOME TAX AND OTHER STATE
CLAIMS
The Council have been in correspondence with the
Revenue Commissioners on the subject of expediting
the procedure for obtaining clearance of income tax
and sur-tax liability for the purpose of distributing
the assets of deceased persons.
The Revenue
Commissioners claim that they are not bound by
the statutory notice to creditors and that accordingly
the personal representatives will be held liable for
such claims even after the assets have been dis
tributed unless inquiries have been sent to the
Revenue Commissioners and certificates of clearance