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The conference was most satisfactory, and the
Council much appreciate the help given to them.
The Bill is about to be considered by the Govern
ment, and we understand it may be introduced this
session, or, if not, next session. The profession will
learn with satisfaction and relief that their efforts
(because the whole profession have a hand in the
proposed Bill) now appear to be coming to fruition.
On the occasion o f our conference with the Minister
for Finance, mentioned in my speech at the last
half-yearly meeting, the Minister held out hopes
that when the Solicitors Bill became an Act he would
favourably consider the Society’s application for the
abolition of the annual licence duty, and also the
appropriation o f the stamp duties on apprentices’
indentures, or the greater portion thereof, to a fund
to be administered by the Society for the legal
education o f our apprentices. The Society’s expenses
under the Bill, in running the profession and in
educating apprentices, will considerably increase,
and the Council look forward with hope to some
relief in these matters and to some extra resources
in meeting the heavy expenses.
I think it is appropriate that I should here say a
word about the principal charges affecting the
public contemplated in the Solicitors Bill, which
has now advanced so far on its long and weary
journey towards the Statute Book. The reason I
do so is that the Bill was originally conceived
in the year 1935, and there is a strong
probability that the junior members o f the
profession who were admitted since the Bill
received initial publicity are unaware of the
changes which are contemplated. There are two im
provements in the Bill which are of vital concern and
interest to the public, as well as to the pro
fession. In the first place, it is proposed to enact
that each practising solicitor shall, annually, when
applying for his practising Certificate, file with
the Secretary a declaration that he is complying and
has complied with the provisions o f the Bill relating
to solicitors’ accounts. These provisions, which
will be the subject of a regulation made under a
section o f the Bill, will prescribe that a solicitor shall
lodge in a separate bank account marked “ clients’
account,” all moneys received by him belonging to
clients or received by him in the capacity o f trustee,
and that such moneys should be kept separate and
distinct from the moneys belonging to the general
office account.
The bank holding a solicitor’s
accounts will not be entitled to set off any debit on
other accounts against the moneys standing to the
credit o f the clients’ account. There will also be
a regulation obliging each practising solicitor to
maintain books o f accounts, which will disclose
his financial position in regard to each client, and
that such books shall be kept written up to date.
The second important provision in the Bill is the
Compensation Fund. It is proposed to set up a
fund, financed by annual contributions from the
profession, which will be used for the purpose of
compensating any client who suffers financial loss
through his solicitor’s defalcation. The fund will
be administered by and in the discretion of the
Council. Experience shows that the moneys which
are lost in this way are only a fraction of a penny
in the £ 1 of the total moneys handled by the profes
sion each year, and the argument has been advanced
that legislation to deal with a problem of such micro
scopic dimensions is unnecessary. However, when
the Bill becomes law, a client will know that in the
unlikely event of his solicitor’s misappropriating
any moneys belonging to him, he can have recourse
to a fund, out o f which he may obtain compensation
without any cost to himself. For these reasons,
the Council believe that the Compensation Fund
will be an advantage to the public and the solicitors’
profession alike.
My predecessors in office have drawn the atten
tion of the profession, in their addresses at half-
yearly General Meetings, to the advantages which
accrue from the existence o f well-supported Bar
Associations throughout the country. There are
many matters which accrue from day to day, dif
ferences o f opinion between local solicitors, for
example, which can be settled more conveniently
and expeditiously by the local Bar Association than
by reference to the Council. Unfair practices, such
as canvassing for business and undercutting, which
are as much against the interests o f the client as of
the profession, can best be eliminated by the action
o f individual members of the profession operating
through their local Bar Associations. The Council,
from time to time, wish to ascertain the views of
the general body of the profession on matters
which come up for discussion at meetings o f the
Council. It is too expensive and inconvenient to
be issuing circulars to obtain the opinion o f indivi
dual solicitors on such matters, but it is an extremely
simple matter to ask the Bar Associations for their
views. In this way the Council can keep abreast
o f local opinion and render the most useful service
to the members of the profession. Some o f the Bar
Associations are extremely active, but others are
inclined to be dormant.
In stressing their importance, I am pleased to
state that two new Bar Associations have recently
been formed, namely, the County Clare Law
Association and the Donegal Solicitors’ Association.
There appear to be no Bar Associations in the
following counties : Roscommon, Longford, West
meath, part o f Offaly, Laoighis and Kilkenny. I
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