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realise that in the normal course of events they will
attend the first Law examination in Autumn 1957
which in effect will be a final examination in the
law of property, real and personal, contract and
tort. This will be a detailed and searching exam
ination in these subjects and I would ask members
who have apprentices now commencing to bring
the regulations to their notice so that they will
prepare themselves for this examination.
By ex
cluding practice and book-keeping from the course
for the first law examination the Society has given
students an opportunity of concentrating on the
theory subjects during the first two years of the
course.
I would recommend that each apprentice
should obtain a copy of the regulations and study
them as soon as possible. The Secretary will be
glad to answer queries from apprentices arising
out of the regulations.
The transitional provisions of the regulations
have been so framed as to provide that an appren
tice who passes
the
Intermediate examination
under the present regulations will attend the present
final examination which will be continued until
Spring 1960.
In the normal course an apprentice
who comes within the new regulations as regards
the first law examination will attend the second
and third law examinations which will commence
in Autumn 1960. The new examination in book
keeping will commence in Autumn 1956 and there
after will cease to be part of the Intermediate exam
ination. Both the lectures and the examination in
book-keeping will be conducted by the lecturer
provided by the Rathmines School of Commerce
to whom I have already referred.
The Solicitors' Accounts Regulations 1955 were
made by the Council on November 3rd and will
come into operation on ist January 1957.
They
are now or shortly will be on sale at the Government
Publications Office. Solicitors taking out practising
certificates on and after 6th January 1957 will
be required to file with the Society a declaration
that they have complied with the Solicitors' Accounts
Regulations, both as
regards
the lodgment of
monies belonging
to clients
to
separate bank
accounts marked " client account " and the main
tenance of a proper office book-keeping system
showing all dealings with clients' monies and
distinguishing such monies from the solicitors'
own monies.
These Professional Practice Regulations were
made last July and were printed in the Society's
Ga2ette in August last. They have statutory effect
and copies may be obtained at the Government
Publications Sales Office. The effect of the regula
tions is to make certain unprofessional practices
illegal and a breach of the regulations will also be
misconduct within the meaning of the Solicitors'
Act, 1954. The regulations provide that the Com
mittee or Council of a Bar Association on receiving
information which, if proved, would constitute a
breach by a solicitor of the regulations or mis
conduct within the meaning of the Act shall bring
such matters to the notice of the Society for investi
gation. Needless to say it is not the object of the
Council in making these regulations to assume the
office of a jealous invigilator prying into solicitors'
private affairs or seeking to supervise every detail
of their conduct.
Indeed the regulation dealing
with the Bar Associations shows that the Council
will rely to an even greater extent on the local
Bar Associations to deal with unprofessional con
duct and the object of the regulations is to strengthen
the authority of the Bar Association in dealing with
unprofessional activities of the marginal type of
practitioner which are a nuisance to his professional
brethren and a menace to the public. These regu
lations contain nothing which has not for many
years been part of the recognised unwritten code
of professional conduct of all reputable solicitors.
The Council will as soon as possible send to
each solicitor in the country a booklet containing
the text of the Solicitors' Accounts Regulations
and
the Professional Practice Regulations with
explanatory notes.
Many of you have no doubt already seen the
maps and books of reference deposited in the City
Hall relating to the draft town plan published by
the Dublin Corporation. For many years solicitors
and their clients have been vaguely aware of the
Town Planning activities of Local Authorities
but we have regarded it in the past as a long term
project which might never come to fruition. Now
that the Corporation have decided to move in the
matter it behoves solicitors to study
the town
planning legislation and regulations as well as the
Town Plan itself in order to be in a position to
advise clients as to the restrictions which will be
imposed by the plan if adopted on the development
and use of City property.
In fact looking to the
future it seems to me that the publication of the
town plan may mark an epoch in our conveyancing
practice almost as important as the Conveyancing
Act 1881 which changed the whole system.
In
future it will be necessary before allowing a client
to sign a contract for sale or purchase property
by auction to ascertain from the Dublin Corporation
whether any restrictions on the use or development
of the property have been imposed by the town
plan. This will mean reading the maps and studying
the books of reference or alternatively ascertaining
by enquiry from the local authority whether the
property is affected. The Society has already applied
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