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connection with the working of the Disciplinary
Committee to the effect that the Disciplinary Com–
mittee should not have any knowledge of an
application until
the application
actually came
before the Committee for oral hearing, and it was sug–
gested that section 13 of the Bill should be amended
to provide that the members of the disciplinary
Committee who read the affidavit of the applicant
should not sit on the taking of the oral evidence.
This matter was discussed with the Department,
and after careful consideration it was felt that the
suggestion made by Captain Cowan would be met
by Section 73 of the Act, which provides for the
setting up of Committees of the Council, and under
this Section a special Committee has been set up
to deal with and investigate complaints, other than
direct applications to the Disciplinary Committee
and it is provided that no member of the Disciplin–
ary Committee shall sit on this special Committee.
In this way no Member of the Disciplinary Com–
mittee will have prior knowledge of any complaint
until
it actually comes before
the Disciplinary
Committee, in the first instance on the Affidavit of
the complainant and subsequently, if the Committee
think fit, on the hearing on oral evidence.
The Council was also approached by a deputation
from the Dublin Solicitors' Bar Association with
reference to certain amendments. It was suggested
that the words "Civil Service Solicitor" in section
3 should be amended to " Solicitor in the full time
service of the State" and this amendment was
agreed. It was also suggested that the penalties in
the case of a Body Corporate implying that it was
qualified to act as a Solicitor should be the same as
in the case of an individual but this amendment
was not agreed to. This Association also suggested
that a special list would be kept of solicitors who
were exempt from taking out Practising Certificates,
and this will be done.
The Council have since January last been engaged
in the work of drafting regulations to be made by
the Society under various sections of the Act. Draft
Solicitors' Accounts' Regulations have already
been prepared and circulated to Bar Associations
for their observations and the replies which have
been received from the Bar Associations have been
carefully qonsidered by a Committee of the Council
to whom the matter was referred. The Committee
has been fully occupied with this exacting task for
some time but has now completed a draft which
will shortly be submitted to the Council. The draft
regulations submitted by the Committee embody
most of the important amendments to the first
draft suggested by the Provincial Bar Associations.
The object of the Committee has been to simplify
the regulations as much as possible and while fully
protecting the interests of the client in the manner
required by the Act to avoid placing any unnecessary
burdens on practising solicitors.
The Council
wish to acknowledge the assistance which has been
received from the Bar Associations. The drafting
of these regulations is an extremely technical and
complicated matter and it is of the utmost importance
that the Council should have before them the views
of bodies representing solicitors throughout the
country so that due regard may be paid to the infinite
variety and differences of practice due to local
customs and conditions. When the final draft of'
the regulations has been approved by the Council
it will be their duty to submit them to the Chief
Justice for his approval.
Of equal importance with the Solicitors' Accounts'
Regulations are the Apprenticeship and Education
Regulations which are still under the Council's
consideration. Under section 40 of the Act the entire
control and regulation of the system of education
is vested in the Society acting through the Council
and in their view the education and equipment for
practice of future generations of solicitors is one
of the most responsible duties imposed upon the
Society.
I do not wish to anticipate the report of
the Court of Examiners which will in due course
be considered by the Council but I would like to
refer to the information which has from time to time
been published in the annual report of the Council
on this matter. You will recollect that in these
statements references have been made to the desir–
ability of providing lecture courses on a number of
practical subjects which have hitherto been outside
the Society's educational curriculum although part
of the course of study for the final examination.
I
refer particularly to lectures on company law, tax–
ation, with special reference to death duties, con–
veyancing and Land Registry practice, and similar
branches of what I might term " applied law"
with which every solicitor must be familiar in daily
practice. In the view of the Court of Examiners the
lectures and courses of tuition have in the past laid
too much stress on what I refer to as theory subjects
and it has been suggested that these should be
entrusted to the Universities to enable the Society to
concentrate on practice. There are difficulties and
the subject is a complicated one. It is unlikely that
any change which may result from the Court of
Examiners recommendations will take effect for a
year or two, buf after all we are legislating for the
future and it is better to take time for consideration
even at the cost of some delay than to enter upon
hasty or ill advised courses.
Section 40 of the Act gives important relief to
solicitors' apprentices in the matter of the second
Irish examination, which, under the Legal Practiti–
oners Act, 1929, could not be taken earlier than
one year before the expiration of the term of in-