246 / 336
It was also decided that a Notice should be published in the
Gazette,
informing Members that
where Accountant's Certificates were in arrears, dating back to the year ending December,
1973, that they would be liable to have their Practising Certificate refused for the Practise
Year, 1976, until such stage as the Certificates had been brought up to date.
The Committee also considered the actual Certificates filed by Accountants. They made it
quite clear that they would not tolerate any deviation from strict adherence to the Solicitors'
Accounts Regulations. Certificates filed by Accountants, on behalf of Solicitors, would be
subjected to severe scrutiny to ensure that the Accounts' Regulations had in fact been adhered
to. The Committee would not hesitate to recommend to the Council refusal to accept a particular
Accountant's Certificate in a case where defalcations were discovered.
In the course of its deliberations, it considered the present unsatisfactory state of the Regulations,
in so far as a Certificate certifying their adherence does not necessarily ensure the solvency of
the Member.
3.4 There have been an increasing number of Applications for Practising Certificates from
Solicitors who have not held them for a number of years. These fall under two main
classifications:
A. Where a qualified Solicitor has worked solely as an Assistant, or Clerk to a Solicitor,
for a number of years, and now applies for a Practising Certificate, then in such
case it has been decided that the Solicitor will be required to take out a Practising
Certificate for every year dating back to the Practice year, commencing January, 1974.
B. Where a qualified person, has been abroad, for a number of years, and having returned
to Ireland, requires a Practising Certificate, then in such a case, he will be given a
limited Practising Certificate only: limiting him to working as an Assistant Solicitor.
3.5 The nature of the complaints lodged against Solicitors fall under the traditional headings,
and are briefly as follows:
A. Delay is undoubtedly the most consistent grounds for complaint. In our deliberation
it would appear that the delay results from a particular Solicitor taking on more
work than he'can handle. It should however be pointed out that very often a Solicitor
is not at fault, but rather some of the Government Services, i.e. the Land Registry,
Revenue Commissioners, Probate Office, are the real causes for the delay.
B. Failure to communicate by a Solicitor with his client, results in a frustrated client
lodging a complaint. Solicitors, it would appear, all too often, where there is no
progress to report, will not communicate with their clients, or respond to their
enquiry, and hence the frustrated client resorts to the Incorporated Law Society.
C. Complaints are received in relation to the failure of Solicitors to hand over Title
Deeds. Some complaints are lodged in respect of overcharging by Solicitors and
where the Committee are satisfied that such overcharging amounts to unprofessional
conduct, they will not hesitate, to take the appropriate action.
3.6 The number of complaints referred to the Registrar's Committee since Apirl, 1975, when
the new system of referral came into operation, has been one hundred and forty-two. The
number of cases referred, by the Registrar's Committee, to the Disciplinary Committee, since
April, 1975, has been twenty-five, to date.
The weekly average of complaints since January, 1975, has been twenty-two, and as of October,
1975, there is an approximate average of fifteen to sixteen complaints per week. The Registrar's
Committee has met on twehty-three occasions since the 1st day of April, 1975.
3.7 During the year, Mr. Larry Cullen resigned and the Committee were sorry to have lost
his service, but were glad that Mrs. Moya Quinlan joined the Committee for the remainder of
the year.
The Committee also lost the valuable services and experience of Mr. Patrick Cafferky, who
resigned as Assistant Secretary to the Incorporated Law Society.
We were glad however to welcome Miss Margaret Casey, who has been of great assistance to
the Committee.
A special word of praise is due to Mr. Basil Doyle, whose unpalatable task it is, to deal with
complaints when they are initially lodged. It is he who is the personal contact with members
of the public, and whose diplomacy has been responsible, on quite a number of occasions,
for defusing what could otherwise be an explosive situation.
All the Members of the Committee, have given of their time most unselfishly, and Mr. Gerry
Doyle has acted as Chairman on many occasions.
.240