The Gazette 1982

108 / 250

INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND GAZETTE
Vol. 76 No. 5
In this issue . . .
AIJA 1982 Congress 1 06
Guide to the Planning Acts 1 08
Wills Week 1 09
A Matter of Matrimony
1 1 7
Executive Editor: Mary Buckley
Editorial Board: Charles R. M. Meredith, Chairman
John F. Buckley
Gary Byrne
William Earley
Michael V. O'Mahony
Maxwell Sweeney
Advertising: Liam Ó hOisin, Telephone 305236
The views expressed in this publication, save where
other-wise indicated, are the views of the contributors
and not necessarily the views of the Council of the
Society.
Published at Blackhall Place, Dublin 7.
June 1982
Comment. • • •
. . . Family Conciliation
IT IS probably fair to say that there are very few
solicitors who find themselves involved in Family Law
cases who would not prefer to be doing some other type of
work. This is so, particularly, because ofthe demanding and
very stressful responsibility of having to deal with people
(wives or husbands) who are at their most emotional—with
anger, bitterness, retribution and self-pity unfortunately a
common ingredient of almost every case. If the emotional
factor were absent, solicitors would be happy enough to
deal with the purely legal aspects ofthe consequences of the
separation of married couples.
It is in this context that a look at the functions of the
Bristol Courts Family Conciliation Service is worthwhile.
The Law Society was fortunate to have at its recent Sym-
posium (entitled "A Matter of Matrimony") a very experi-
enced Conciliator from that Service and an outline of what
that Service provides is contained elsewhere in this issue.
Those who, quite rightly, call for the implementation of the
ideal of a properly constituted Family Court, independent
of the other Courts, with exclusive jurisdiction in all family
law matters and with qualified welfare support staff, would
do well to look at the Bristol experiment. Progress towards
the ideal has to start somewhere and where better to start
than by recognising that the involvement of lawyers in
family law cases, operating the existing accusatorial sys-
tem, has to be the wrong way to resolve such disputes
because, apart from the strain on the lawyers concerned, the
long-term emotional effects on the parties themselves and
the children involved, generated by a system which neces-
sarily involves charge and countercharge, is immeasurable.
Lawyers try their best within the professional constraint of
acting in the perceived interest of only one party, to bring
about settlements, sometimes despite their clients' transi-
ent wishes, particularly where the unfortunate children,
represented by no-one, are the pawns in the parties' blood-
letting!
How much more humane and satisfactory it would be if
there was a conciliation service available, staffed by quali-
fied social workers and marriage guidance councillors,
allied to some knowledge of the law, to help the parties
themselves to come to terms with the realities of separation
and the desirability of coming to terms as amicably as pos-
sible on the issues of custody of and access to children,
maintenance and division of property. How much more
efficient that form of conciliation than the pressurised 'con-
(Continued on P. 105)
99