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Court and Offices Committee :
Joseph Barrett,
Niall S. Gaffney, Desmond Mayne, John J. Nash,
Daniel O’Connell, James J. O’Connor, Sean 6
hUadhaigh, James R. Quirke, Joseph P. Tyrrell.
Finance Committee :
Henry St. J. Blake, John
j. Bolger, John Carrigan, William L. Duggan,
Roger Greene, William S. Huggard, Louis E.
O’Dea, Patrick F. O’Reilly, George A. Ovcrend.
Gazette Committee :
Joseph Barrett, John Carrigan,
Niall S. Gaffney, Francis J. Gearty, John R. Halpin,
Desmond Mayne, John J. Nash, John D. O’Connell,
J. Travers Wolfe.
The President, last President, and the Vice-
Presidents are members ex-officio o f all Committees.
COUNTY SOLICITORS
M
emorandum
from
the
I
ncorporated
L
aw
S
ociety
of
I
reland
to
the
M
inister
for
L
ocal
G
overnment
on
the
inadequacy
OF THE SALARY OFFERED FOR THE POSITION
OF WHOLETIME LAW
AGENT
TO A
LOCAL
AUTHORITY.
1 . A number of local authorities with the sancdon
of the Department have recently decided to appoint
wholetime law agents on a salary basis, instead of
part-time solicitors remunerated by taxed costs
as heretofore. The salary offered is on the scale,
£1,000—£25—£ 1,15 0 , with a temporary allowance
of
per cent. The solicitor is obliged to pay a
contribution of 5 per cent, of his salary to a
superannuation fund.
2. The Council feel it incumbent on them to
inform the Department that they consider
that the salary scale of £1,000—£25—£ 1,15 0
is entirely inadequate for the wholetime position
of law agent to a local authority having re
gard to the qualifications required o f the holder
of the office, and the exacting and responsible
nature o f the duties, which he is required to
discharge. The salary offered is a uniform scale
of £1,000—£ 2 5—£ 1,15 0 , irrespective of the
population, area, and volume of work, which
varies in different counties.
This alone, in .the
submission o f the Council, shows that in fixing
the scale insufficient consideration has been given
to the nature o f the duties o f the county solicitors
and the proper scale o f remuneration for the office.
As an illustration o f the inadequacy of the salary
offered the Council have particularly in mind the
position o f law agent to the Cork County Council.
A solicitor accepting the office on the terms offered
will be required to undertake the duties which,
prior to 1942, were performed by separate part
time solicitors who acted for each of the following
bodies :—
Cork County Council,
North Cork Board o f Health and Assistance,
West Cork Board of Health and Assistance,
South Cork Board of Health,
South Cork Board of Assistance.
From information before the Council it appears
that the taxed costs appropriate to the work done
by these solicitors over a period o f years could
average out at not less than £4,000 per annum.
Assuming that overhead office expenses would
absorb 10/- in the £ , these five solicitors between
them earned at least £2,000 per annum
net,
in
addition to carrying on private practice.
The
Department now ask for the
exclusive
services of
a solicitor to act as law agent for all the local
government work of the county at a salary of
approximately half the
net profit
taxed costs value
of the work to be done.
3. The figure of £4,000 given above as the
estimated gross yearly taxed costs appropriate to
the five offices mentioned in paragraph 2 will
almost certainly be greatly exceeded in future
years having regard to the probable increase in
local government work.
This is due, firstly, to
the initiation and development o f housing schemes
throughout the country and the great expansion
o f work under the Small Dwellings Acquisition
Acts. Secondly, it is obvious that the duties o f a
wholetime law agent are inevitably heavier than
the sum of the duties of the part-time solicitors
whom he replaces, for the reason that the payment
of taxed costs is a restraining influence, and no
official except the highest was free to consult the
solicitor without a specific authorisation.
This
restraint is removed where there is a whole-time
salaried solicitor, and as there is little in local
government which cannot be related to law the
field o f responsibility of the solicitor is corres
pondingly widened. The Council do not object
to this ; they merely point to it as calling for the
payment of adequate remuneration.
4. The Council further wish to point out that,
certainly in Dublin, and probably in other areas,
the salary offered for the office of law agent is
less than that of the County Medical Officer or
County Engineer. The Council would deprecate,
and in the interest of the profession as a whole,
would feel obliged to use their influence against
a policy which would result in the payment of
solicitors, either generally or in any particular
case, less favourably than other professional men
in the local government service.
The Council
45