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g a z e t t e
a p r i l 1991
From the
Report from Vienna
European Presidents'
Conference
Vienna is obviously one of the
highlights of a President's itinerary.
It surpassed all advance expecta-
tions.
We arrived in Vienna on the
evening of 6th February. The
temperature was minus 10 degrees
and we awoke on the following
morning to find the city under a
heavy carpet of snow - the first
major snow-fall experienced there
for three years. This added to the
beauty of the city.
There was a meeting of the Inter-
national Bar Association on the
a f t e r noon of Thursday, 7 th
February at which we got an
interesting address by the English
delegate,
John
Young,
on
"Liberalisation and expansion of
international trade in legal services
- the GATT proposal and its
implementation".
It was nice to hear the meeting
being told that Ireland along wi th
Germany were the only t wo
countries who were fully up-to-
date in their international obliga-
tions in passing the required
legislation for implementing the
E.C. Directive of 21/12/88 on the
mutual recognition of Higher
Education Diplomas.
At this meeting also there was a
reference to the CCBE meeting to
be held in Dublin early in May. I
assured the meeting that they
would find a warm welcome in
Ireland and I expressed the hope
that the required resolution would
be passed for the purpose of
approving the draft Directive on
establishment.
The Conference or meeting of
Presidents was held at the Ferstal
Palace. This was an all day meeting
on Friday, 8th February. I estimate
that 26 countries were represented
- in effect, I understand that all
countries of Europe were repre-
sented w i th the exception of
Iceland and Malta. It was a fascin-
ating international experience. At
the meeting itself, the Irish dele-
gation comprising Peter Kelly of the
Bar Council and myself were
flanked by the French delegation on
one side and the Italian delegation
on the other side and in the course
of the social events over the few
days, we had the pleasure of
mee t i ng a w i de va r i e ty of
Europeans including Dr. Kurt
Waldheim, President of Austria, Dr.
Walter Schuppich, President of
the Austrian Bar, and the delegates
from England, Scotland and North
of Ireland. On one evening, I dined
wi th the Presidents of the Lawyers
As soc i a t i ons f r om
Romania
and Bulgaria and had a " n i ght
c ap " w i t h the President f r om
Finland.
The meeting took the form of
reports f r om all the different
European countries. These were
extremely interesting and varied.
There was a report from Dr. Klaus
Shmalz of Germany on the prob-
lems arising from the unification of
East and West Germany - the
former having approximately 2,000
lawyers and the latter about
5 8 , 0 0 0. The delegate f r om
Czecheslovakia reported on the
position before and after the
Revolution of November, 1989; that
they were now as free as Western
Europe and the principle of free
access to the legal profession was
accepted. There had been a dram-
atic increase in the number of
lawyers. There was also a report
from Romania on the position since
the Revolution there.
In Denmark, they thought " t he
one stop shop" was a threat to the
independence of the legal profess-
ion and it was very important for
the profession to remain inde-
pendent. Under a 1990 law,
incorporation was allowed for
lawyers provided 100% of the
equity was owned by practising
lawyers. Legal advice could only be
given by lawyers in private practice
or incorporated as aforesaid.
Holland - the Dutch Bar had
examined the question of multi-
disciplinary practices. They are per-
mitted to co-operate wi th other
professions in partnership provided
there is comparable education and
disciplinary rules but, so far, not
wi th accountants. Here, the view
still was that the role of account-
ants, especially in auditing, was
impartial and the role of advocates
was partial - hence, an immediate
conflict.
Tony Holland, the English Presi-
dent, expressed the view that the
age of professions was possibly
coming to an end. The reality was
- whether we liked it or not - that
we were in an age of consumérism.
Lawyers had to service an inter-
national market and clients with
international requirements. There
was strong consumer pressure and
c ompe t i t i on, especially f r om
accountants.
There were contributions also
f r om
t he
de l ega t i ons
of
Liechtenstein (where I think they
have only 43 lawyers and one of
their main problems related to
money laundering), Poland, Luxem-
bourg, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Turkey
and Les Jeunes Avocats.
It 'was interesting to learn also
f r om Dr. Karl Hempell, Vice-
President of the Viennese Bar, that
he receives and regularly reads our
Gazette. If this Report is inaccurate
in any way, then I would be greatly
pleased if he would write to correct
me - indeed, perhaps he might
write in any event to elaborate and
expand on my comments.
It was a fascinating and en-
riching experience to hear one's
colleagues from all over Europe.
There is no formal constitution or
regulations governing this meeting
of Presidents. They have no rule-
making or disciplinary powers. But
the potential of this meeting as an
influence for law, order, justice and
peace throughout Europe is enor-
mous through the exchange of
ideas, the example of high ethical
values and the mutual help the
legal profession in each country
can give to the others, and of
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