177 / 324
or not. The Council referred to a Committee the
consideration of a fair scale of charges for corres
pondence before or after
termination of Court
proceedings.
Circuit Court Rules Committee.
MR. JOSEPH P. TYRRELL was reappointed as one
of the Society's representatives on the Committee.
Workmen's Compensation Commission.
A DRAFT memorandum settled by a Committee
of the Council was approved.
FEBRUARY yra :
The President in the Chair. Also
present Messrs. Thomas A. O'Reilly, Desmond J.
Mayne,
James R. Quirke, Reginald J. Nolan,
Cornelius J. Daly, Francis J. Lannigan, John R.
Halpin, Derrick M. Martin, Arthur Cox, John
Carrigan, P. R. Boyd, Henry St. J. Blake, Desmond
J. Collins, Peter E. O'Connell, Francis J. Gearty,
C. E. Callan, Charles J. Downing, Scan O'hUadhaigh,
Joseph P. Tyrrell, Terence De Vere White, George
G. Overend, R. McD. Taylor, John J. Sheil. Louis
Walsh.
The following was among the business transacted.
Solicitors' Remuneration General Orders,
1884-1951.
A DRAFT submission to the statutory committee
appointed under Section 4 of the Solicitors' Re
muneration Act 1881 was settled. The submission
asks the Committee to make a new general order
providing for the new schedule 2 system outlined
in the January issue of the Society's Gazette.
Overend and Findlater Scholarships.
DRAFT Schemes prepared by counsel for submission
to
the Commissioners of Charitable Donations
and Bequests were approved. The general nature
of the proposed new schemes was stated in the
January issue of the Society's Gazette.
The Border.
THE Council considered a report from a Committee
and the correspondence received from Bar Associa
tions and individual members in reply to the state
ment published in the Society's Gazette for August
1956.
In that statement the Council asked for the
views of members and Bar Associations on a sug
gestion that mutual practice regulations should
be made by the Society and the Incorporated Law
Society of Northern Ireland which would prevent
solicitors practising
in either
jurisdiction from
engaging in conveyancing or other business with
respect to property in the other jurisdiction, unless
covered by a practising certificate therefor. Having
considered the replies received and all relevant
considerations, the Council decided to make no
regulation.
SALE AND PURCHASE—ACTING FOR
BOTH PARTIES—COSTS—CONFLICT OF
INTERESTS.
THE Council have considered the position of a
solicitor who acts for both vendor and purchaser
and publish the following statement for the guidance
of the profession :—
1. In general it is undesirable that a solicitor
should act for both vendor and purchaser. Special
circumstances may require exceptions to the general
rule.
To act for both parties in any case where
there is a conflict of interest is clearly improper.
2. A solicitor who acts for both parties on a
sale is legally entitled to charge two commission
scale fees if all the work both for vendor and
purchaser contemplated by Schedule
i, Part i,
S.R.G.O. 1884 is substantially performed.
(Wilson
to Best and Best—1915 i I.R. 58. White
v.
Boggs
—1951 I.L.T.R.I.)
3. If a solicitor acts for both parties and does not
perform substantially all the work described in the
schedule to the General Order he will lose one and
possibly both commission scale fees and in such
circumstances will have to charge under Schedule 2
instead of the commission scale fee lost.
4. There is no authority for agreeing to charge
less than two separate commission scale fees or
more than one, e.g., one and a half times the single
fee divided between both parties. An agreement
by a solicitor to act for both parties and to charge
one and a half times the scale fee divided between
both might be an offence against regulation 6 of the
Solicitors Act 1954 (Professional Practice Conduct
and Discipline) Regulations 1955 (S.I. No. 151 of
1955). A solicitor who acts for both parties and
substantially performs for each the work described
in the schedule to the General Order is entitled to
charge the full commission scale fee to each but
should allow to the purchaser the amount of the
negotiation fee which is included in the commission
scale fee as he could hardly negotiate the sale for
each party.
5. Attention is drawn to regulation
5
of the
Professional Practice Regulations cited above. The
regulation provides that a solicitor shall not permit
to be done on his behalf in connection with his
practice or by a client for whom h& proposes to act