164 / 244
actual amount of the rent. At present, subject
to the limited operation o f Rule 6 of Schedule i,
Patt 2, the commission is payable only in respect
of unbroken units of
£100.
The Secretary was directed to prepare the case
in support of the application and the following
were appointed as a Special Committee to settle
it and to attend before the Committee on the
application:
Messrs. Niall S. Gaffney, Vice-
President, G. A. Overend, Dermot P. Shaw, John
J. Sheil.
J
une
14 T H .
Mr. Niall S. Gaffney, Vice-President,
in the Chair. Also present: Messrs. Francis J.
Gearty, Vice-President; G. A. Overend, Patrick
R. Boyd, Derrick M. Martin, James R. Quirke,
Joseph Barrett, Daniel O’Connell, Thomas A.
O’Reilly, Reginald J. Nolan, Patrick F. O’Reilly,
John R. Halpin, John J. Sheil, John J. Nash,
James J. O’Connor, William J. Norman, Arthur
Cox, Desmond Mayne.
The following was among the business trans
acted :—
Branch Office, Adequate supervision
AB , a practising solicitor, died some years ago.
CD, who practises in a town fifty miles distant,
continued the practice of AB for the purpose of
winding it up. The practice of the deceased solicitor
was continued under a business name. The office
of AB was open daily under the supervision o f an
unqualified managing clerk, and CD attended from
his own office, usually once a week, for the purpose
of supervising the business. The matter was brought
to the attention of the Council by members of the
Society, and, having invited the views of CD, the
Council decided that in their opinion it was not
possible for CD to supervise adequately the
transaction of clients’ business in the branch office
fifty miles distant from his own office, and that,
unless arrangements could be made to sell the
the practice within a specified time, a qualified
solicitor should be engaged to manage the branch
office, or that, alternatively, the branch office
should be opened only on days when CD attended
there personally. The general principle is that it
is not in accordance with proper professional
practice that a solicitor’s office should be managed
by an unqualified assistant without adequate pro
fessional supervision o f clients’ business. While
the adequacy of the supervision must depend upon
the facts of particular cases, the Council are generally
of the opinion that a branch office which is open
daily should be managed by a qualified assistant.
If there is no permanent qualified assistant in charge
of the office it should be open only on days when
the principal attends in person.
Undertaking by solicitor
AB acted for his father, FB, who was sole executor
of the will of JQ , deceased. Probate was granted
on 22nd October,
1 9 4 1 .
In March,
1 9 4 9 ,
CD,
solicitor, was consulted by a residuary legatee
whose distributive share of £750 had not been
paid. It appeared that the executor had handled
the administration himself and that the solicitor
was not fully familiar with the details. The executor
appeared to have overpaid some of the legatees
by failing to deduct the full legacy duty, and had
not paid CD’s client whose share, however, was
on deposit receipt. Sufficient moneys had not been
retained by the executor to pay A B ’s costs. After
correspondence AB wrote to CD enclosing the
deposit receipt for £750 in the client’s name on
CD ’s undertaking to hold it pending settlement.
CD alleged that the administration account furnished
was unsatisfactory and asked the Council to say
whether, having regard to the alleged, failure of
the executor to furnish a satisfactory account, he
was absolved from his undertaking, and whether
he might hand the deposit receipt to his client
in order to save the estate the expense o f Court
proceedings.
The opinion of the Council was
that CD could not release himself from the under
taking given, presumably on his client’s instructions,
and that, if so advised, he ought to consult counsel
as to his client’s legal rights.
Auctioneer and house agent employed by
solicitor
It was reported to the Society that a person
holding an auctioneer’s and house agent’s licence
was in the employment o f a solicitor as a clerk.
The Secretary was directed to write to the solicitor
concerned to enquire whether the facts as stated
to the Council are correct, and, on confirmation
o f the facts as stated, to invite the solicitor’s attention
to the notification to the profession published in
the Society’s
Gazette
for June, 1950, that it is not
in accordance with professional practice and etiquette
for a solicitor to employ as a clerk a person holding
an auctioneer’s or house agent’s licence.
Application under Section 18
On a report from the Court of Examiners the •
Council decided not to oppose the application to
the Chief Justice by an intending apprentice for
exemption from the Preliminary Examination.
The applicant holds the Leaving Certificate of the
Ministry of Education, Northern Ireland.
14