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The Gazette of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland.
[DECEMBER, 1914
Lieutenant to receive a deputation from the
Council on the subject of the Irish Resident
Magistracy.
Our deputation was most
courteously received by His Excellency and
Sir Mathew Nathan,
the
new Under
secretary, Sir James Dougherty also being
present, on the 13th of November. We laid
our grievance as fully as possible before His
Excellency, who replied sympathetically, and
promised that our representations would have
careful consideration, and we must only trust
that it will be so.
I think the Council are
agreed that this whole question of legal
appointments will never be set right by mere
protests, representations or deputations, but
that the only adequate remedy is for the
profession itself to acquire if possible some
voice in the exercise of legal patronage in
Ireland. So far as this patronage is exercised
by the Government, legal offices appear to be
bestowed in reward for political or personal
services rendered, rather than for legal merit
or fitness for office;
and so far as it is
exercised by the judicial authorities it is only
human nature that first consideration should
be given to members of the branch of the
Profession from whose ranks those very
judicial
authorities must
themselves be
chosen.
Some, I know, think the matter
could be largely set right by
The Amalgamation of the two Branches
of the Legal Profession,
which is personally my own view. There is,
however, a great division of opinion amongst
Solicitors on this subject, and the special
Legal Reform Committee appointed some
thirty years ago by this Society (their report
is
well worth
studying) were
almost
unanimous in reporting against amalgama
tion. But things have changed in Ireland
since the date of that report, and it seems to
me the necessity for two branches of the legal
Profession in the circumstances which now
obtain, gets smaller every year. Amalgama
tion, too, would require legislation, and to
carry the necessary legislation would be
extremely
difficult without
the
almost
unanimous consent of both Professions even
in more favourable Parliamentary times.
It is not out of the region of probability that
before long the reform of the whole legal
system in Ireland will be taken in hand, and
it would be well if in the meantime the
opinion of our branch of
the Profession
generally could be
ascertained,
and,
if
possible,
formulated on
this question of
amalgamation and other important questions
of a kindred nature.
Turning to our more, immediate domestic
concerns, I would like to call attention to the
Report of the Statutory Committee,
which you will find on page 43 of the Council's
Annual Report.
Thirty-two applications
were made to this Committee during the year,
and in only one case did the Committee deem
it necessary
to
report professional mis
conduct to the Lord Chancellor, and I may
point out that this is the only case where
professional misconduct was reported out of
some 70 cases investigated by the Committee
during the last two years.
I am sure you will
agree that this is highly creditable to our
Profession.
Another satisfactory matter is the record
of the
Membership of the Society,
which has been steadily increasing every
year for the last seven or eight years.
In the
year 1908 we had 740 members out of 1,634
practising Solicitors, an average of a little
over 45 per cent;
last year the Society
counted 884 members out of 1,587 Solicitors
on the Roll—an average of about 56 per cent.
It must be
remembered,
too,
that
the
Northern Law Society and the Southern Law
Association are affiliated to our Society, and
have under the Charter direct representation
on our Council. These two Societies have
amongst their members an additional 160
Solicitors who are not members of the Law
Society, so that out .of a total of 1,587
Solicitors 1,044 are represented by your
Council—an average of about 66 per cent.
Of course this is not as satisfactory as it
might be, as we are all agreed that every
practising Solicitor in Ireland should join the
Law Society.
Some think it should be
compulsory on every Solicitor to join. But
the gradual
increase of membership
is
satisfactory, and it seems to be agreed in
Ireland that it is better to get recruits by
voluntary
enlistment
rather
than
by
conscription.