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GAZETTE
COMMITTEE NEWS
The Profess i onal Purposes Commi t t ee.
The Professional Purposes or
Privileges Committee is set up under
the Regulations of the Council and
its mandate is described as follows:
"The Privileges Committee should
report to the Council on matters
affecting the duties and rights of
solicitors and may in case of
urgency take such actions as may
appear necessary without report-
ing to the Council".
Safety Valve
The Committee is basically an
essential safety valve for the
profession. Solicitors can come to
the
Professional
Purposes
Committee and air their differences
and grievances as well as their
problems
(w i th
the
clear
knowledge that there is no overt
disciplinary element involved). The
Commi t t ee f r equen t ly solves
delicate problems concerning
conduct, ethics, practice, costs,
and issues directives and opinions,
which are invariably accepted by
the solicitors concerned. Members
of the Committee are concerned
with understanding the problems
which confront solicitors while at
the same time making a positive
con t r i bu t i on
to
the
good
government of the profession by
maintaining traditionally accepted
standards of professional conduct.
The Committee is also concerned
of course to keep abreast of
changes which are taking place in
society generally in the age of
technology.
Standards of Conduct
Because of the unique relationship
which exists between solicitors
and their clients and the wide range
of complex subjects covered in this
relationship there is a great
dependence by members of the
public on their solicitors. Basically
the client expects the solicitor to
"keep him right" in a situation
where the solicitor is very much
better informed than the client.
This imbalance of information and
knowledge is corrected to a certain
extent by the imposition of a set of
standards of conduct and it is the
task of the Professional Purposes
Committee to ensure that these
standards are monitored and
maintained
t h r oughout
the
profession for the benefit both of
the profession and public.
Wo rk of the Commi t t ee
The Committee deals on a regular
basis w i th a wide range of
subjects, such as breaches of
undertakings, arbitrations, failure
to reply to correspondence, failure
to hand over files, acrimonious
severing of partnerships, activities
of unqualified persons, advertising
breaches, practitioners' difficulties
with Building Societies and Banks,
and many other items of intense
interest to practitioners in the daily
conduct of their business.
The
Commi t t ee
is
also
concerned that solicitors should be
given the tools necessary to
maintain high standards of conduct
and to this end has been the
intitiating Committee in relation to
the issue of:-
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