The Gazette 1983

145 / 346

GAZETTE JULY/AUGUST 198
The Increasing Role of the Legal
Profession in the Employment
Appeals Tribunal
by
Deirdre Poole, College of Commerce, Rathmines
Winning Essay of The Law Society's Annual Journalism Award 1983
THE Employment Appeals Tribunal has become
something of a boom area for the legal profession
during the past five years and, however contradictory this
is to the original aim of the Tribunal it shows that Labour
Law is now an important growth area in Irish Law.
The original aim of the Tribunal, in the words of the
Donovan Commission, was to provide "an easily acces-
sible, informal and inexpensive procedure for the settle-
ment of disputes." This meant that both parties could
present their own cases with no involvement from the legal
profession.
Legal knowledge and experience has always been
recognised by the Tribunal. The Chairman is required to
have a mimimum of seven years legal practice and
although not required by law, the Vice-Chairmen
appointed so far have all had legal experience. In addition,
the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 has its background in
Common Law. A knowledge of adjectival law is also
required, as distinct from substantive law, to ensure that
hearings are conducted in accordance with the require-
ments of Natural Law. But the Tribunal was not designed
to become a court with legal representation on both sides.
Both trade unions and employers' organisations provide
services for representing members and in 1978 a total of
444 employees were represented by their unions. Only 211
cases were represented by the legal profession. By 1981 the
number of union represented cases was 721 while the
number of legally represented cases had risen to 672, three
times the 1978 figure.
Legal involvement on the employer's side is much more
pronounced and always has been. The legal profession
represented 265 employers in 1978 while the unions
represented only 154 cases. By 1981 the legal profession
represented 724 cases while the unions represented 406
employers. (See Table).
"The law in relation to the Tribunal is complicated and
will get more so in the future" says Mr. Ercus Stuart, SC, a
leading labour law expert. "Because of our membership of
the EEC more laws will be passed dealing with labour law.
They will have all sorts of gaps in them so this is a growing
area for solicitors."
"Younger solicitors in particular have an advantage in
this area over older solicitors because for the past ten years
they have had a special course at the Kings Inn in the
whole area of dismissal law and practice.These solicitors
will have more experience and knowledge and so will have
more opportunity especially in larger firms. Larger firms
now deal with more labour law cases because they
represent large of multi-national companies."
"A number of solicitors and barristers though are not
doing a good job" claims Mr. Gary Byrne, solicitor and
expert in labour law. "Some members of the legal pro-
fession are just not offay with the Tribunal system. They
tend to compare it with courtwork and because there is
little paperwork they don't put enough work into it."
"Because there is so little paperwork involved and
because there is so little information available beforehand I
think the onus is on the solicitor or barrister to do even
more work in the Tribunal hearings" argues Mr. Stuart.
"Also barristers are just as necessary as solicitors at
hearings" says Mr. Stuart. "Solicitors don't have as
much experience at advocacy. If a case is to be decided on
whether someone is telling the truth then a barrister is the
best person to establish it in cross examination."
"Solicitors are needed because in many cases the trade
unions are appalling. They just haven't got a clue of the
law. In many cases where the unions are winning they are
not getting enough for their clients. People then go to
solicitors expecting them to do better," agrees Mr. Byrne.
"Companies can afford to have their own solicitors and
they more often than not use them to represent them,"
REPRESENTATION AT SITTINGS
EMPLOYEES
1978
1979
1980
1981
Representation
by Trade Union.
444
427
801
721
Representation
by Solicitor
or Counsel.
211
305
387
672
EMPLOYERS
Representation
by Employer
Organisation.
154
136
258
406
Representation
by Solicitor
or Counsel.
265
397
776
724
Figures supplied by Dept. of Labour.
137