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GAZETTE
DECEMBER 1991
From the Director General
Some Reflections on Atlanta and Brussels 1991
It is probably fair to say that there
is a perception amongst the
ordinary members of most organi-
sations t hat a t t endance at
international conferences by those
who are privileged enough to hold
positions such as mine are, in the
main, of the 'junket' variety and are
part and parcel of the perks of
office. This is an understandable
perception. Which of us, for ex-
ample, has not been sceptical of
reports of droves of local
gove r nment councillors and
officials from rural parts of Ireland
heading off to conferences on
urban planning issues in exotic
parts of the world. Of course,
perception can sometimes be wide
of the mark. To my mind,
attendance at some international
conferences is a
sine qua non
of
keeping abreast of international
developments. Selectivity is, of
course, impo r t an t. It is also
important that, when one is
present at a conference, one
attends at least some of the more
important business sessions.
This year I did not go to Atlanta
where the American Bar Associa-
tion had its Annual Conference
though the Law Society of Ireland
was represented there. I did,
however, attend the English Law
Society Conference in Brussels in
October.
Atlanta
You might think it odd that I am
writing about a conference that I
did not attend. The reason for this
is that this year's ABA Conference
created something of a stir. The
Law Society of Ireland's principal
interest was in promoting, with
American lawyers, the use of Irish
law firms as a bridge to Europe and,
in t h is respect, they were
competing with their English Law
Society colleagues (reports indicate
that the Irish Law Society efforts
were a huge success). But the main
stir was caused by a very trench-
Noel Ryan
ant attack on the American legal
profession made by U.S. Vice
President,
Dan Quayle.
Quayle set the cat among the
pigeons and ruffled a few feathers
(I) by accusing the profession of
being partly responsible for what
he described as the excessive
litigation in America which was, he
said, blunting the competitive edge
of the American economy. There
were 18 million civil actions in 1989
with US individuals and businesses
spending more than $80 billion on
direct litigation costs and higher
insurance premiums.
In his address, he outlined pro-
posals for major reforms of the US
civil justice system, including the
introduction of a rule under which
costs would follow the event, as in
this jurisdiction and the UK.
Vice President Quayle's proposals
emanated f r om a report put
forward by a special working group
of the US Government's 'Council
on Competitiveness'. In addition to
the introduction of the loser pay
rule he said that " t he Government
were considering strict limits on
punitive damages, pre trial dis-
covery and use of expert evidence".
On the loser pay rule, Vice
President Quayle said that "the rule
was grounded in fairness and was
applied in virtually every other
western country besides the USA.
There is no doubt it weeds out a lot
of frivolous claims and specious
defences". On the issue of punitive
damaged, he referred to a report of
a 1987 study of 24,000 jury trials
in Illinois which showed that the
average punitive damages award
shot up from $43,000 in 1969 to
$729,000 in 1984 - a jump of
1,500%. On this topic, Mr. Quayle
said that " w h a t began as a
sanction only for the most repre-
hensible conduct has now become
almost routine". Clearly, from
reports that I have read, the ABA's
President
Jack Curtin,
was not
amused, particularly at Quayle's
rhetorical question about whether
America really needed 70% of the
world's lawyers. Curtin responded
by saying that anyone who believed
a better day would dawn when
lawyers were eliminated bore the
burden of explaining who would
take their place. "Who will protect
the poor, the injured, the victims of
negligence, the victims of racial
discrimination and the victims of
racial violence", he asked.
The lessons that I would draw from
the current situation that obtains in
relation to litigation in the United
States, as outlined by Vice Presi-
dent Quayle, is that the Americans
are in the mess they are in primarily
because of two factors. The first is
the charging by American lawyers
of contingency fees which gives
them a stake in the action and,
undoubtedly, contributes towards
the proliferation of litigation. The
second, in my personal view, is
that, over the years, in most of the
US States there has been uncon-
trolled access to the legal profes-
sion resulting in the situation,
highlighted by Vice President
Quayle, where America now has
70% of the world's population of
lawyers.
Brussels
President's Keynote Address
The English Law Society's Con-
ference took place in Brussels from
16-20 October. The new President,
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