Previous Page  572 / 822 Next Page
Information
Show Menu
Previous Page 572 / 822 Next Page
Page Background

GAZETTE

DECEMBER 1988

INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The Annual General Meeting of

Ireland was held at Blackhall

17 November, 1988.

Before the formal business opened

the President, Mr. Thomas D. Shaw

w e l c omed t he memb e rs and,

especially Mr. John Jennings,

President-elect of the Canadian Bar

Association, and Mrs. Jennings.

Having signed the Minutes of the

Half-Yearly General Meeting, held in

Cork on May 7th, 1988, the audited

a c c o u n ts for t he year ended

December 31st last were reviewed.

Mr. Brendan Garvan was alarmed

w i t h the results as reflected in the

Income & Expenditure Account.

The actual ou t come for the year

was a deficit of £15,167, compared

w i th a surplus of £ 2 9 , 6 33 for the

previous year. He objected to the

inclusion of the "Wr i te Back of

Reserve" £36 , 058, wh i ch gave a

s u r p l us of £ 2 0 , 8 9 1, t h e r e by

disguising the real deficit. He

added, however, that the Society's

Reserves in the Balance Sheet

appeared adequate.

In the light of the activities for

the year ended December 31st,

1987, the Society wou ld have to

think seriously about where it was

going, having regard to inflation, as

the figures continue to be above

the general level. The return on

capital employed was going d own

year by year culminating in a

negative return for the current year.

At the same time, the cost of the

Practising Ce r t i f i c a te was in-

creasing at a rate beyond the rate

of inflation and the Soc i e t y 's

continuing rising costs wou ld give

rise to f u r t h er i n c r e a s es in

Practising Certificate fees. Mr.

Garvan urged a cost reduction

exercise i mme d i a t e ly and t he

reduction of overheads by 5%.

Committee Chairman's Reply

The Chairman of the Finance

C omm i t t e e,

Mr.

Er nest

J.

Ma r ge t s on, replying to po i n ts

raised by Mr. Garvan, said that

there had been increased outlay on

3 32

the Incorporated Law Society of

Place, Dublin 7, on Thursday,

extra staff for key areas, greater

c omm i t me nt in the c ommu n i-

cations area, and in the institutional

advertising project. Dealing w i th

the return on capital employed, Mr.

Ma r g e t s on

q u e s t i o n ed

t he

relevance of this point, wh i ch had

been raised by Mr. Garvan, as the

Society is not a commercial trading

concern and operates w i t h in the

income available f r om fees and

miscellaneous activities.

On the matter of the Practising

Certificate fee level, Mr. Margetson

referred to the table of fees payable

over recent years wh i ch shows an

increase in the total contribution

level from £ 4 86 in 1984 to £ 5 45 in

1988, 12% in four years. Every

effort is made to control expense

and he cited the present budget

review as a case in point; every

item of income and expenditure is

examined in detail for justification.

A point raised by Mr. Garvan on

"Wr i te Back of Reserve" in the

Income and Expenditure Account is

being given a wr i t t en reply as the

answer involves a previous year's

accounts.

The President expressed his

support for the statements made

by Mr. Margetson and assured the

Meeting that, from his first hand

experience, particularly during this

year, the finance of the Society is

being properly and efficiently man-

aged. The adoption of the Accounts

was agreed unanimously on the

proposal of Mr. Patrick O'Connor

and Mr. Raymond Monahan.

Appo i n tment of Messrs. Cooper

and Lybrand as Aud i t o rs was

unanimously agreed on the motion

of Mr. Ernest Margetson, seconded

by Mr. Frank Daly. Mr. Margetson

we l comed Mr. R. Lane and Mr. K.

Byrne of Cooper & Lybrand and

thanked t hem for their services to

the Society, especially in settling

the tax position wh i ch was under

query for several years.

Advertising Ballot

The ballot on Ad v e r t i s i ng by

Solicitors showed a total valid poll

of 1,976 (with 54 spoiled votes)

and the following results:

Solicitors should be

entitled to advertise

1,013

Solicitors should not be

entitled to advertise

9 63

Reports from Committees

Dealing w i t h the Report of the

Council the President expressed

thanks on behalf of the members to

t he

P r o f e s s i o n al

Pu r po s es

Comm i t t ee for t he ir wo rk in

producing the Guide to Professional

Conduct of Solicitors in Ireland.

On the Report of the Education

Committee Mr. Brendan Garvan

r e f e r r ed t o t he t h r e at f r om

University Professors to the effect

that they wou ld w i t hd r aw their

services f r om the conduct of Law

Society examinations. In his view

the Society should be completely

independent of the Universities in

the running of the Law School.

When discussing the Report of

the Younger Members' Committee,

t he P r es i dent w e l c o m ed Ms.

Miriam Reynolds, and congrat-

ulated her on her Election to the

Council. He cong r a t u l a t ed Mr.

Cullen and the Costs Committee on

the publication of the Costs Book,

wh i ch wou ld be of considerable

value to p r ac t i t i one r s. It rep-

resented a tremendous voluntary

effort on the part of Mr. Cullen and

his Commi t t ee colleagues wh i ch

had been commenced when Mr.

Cullen was President of the Society

some three years earlier. The

President's remarks were received

with applause.

The adoption of the Council

Report was proposed by Mr. D. R.

Pigot, seconded by Mr. Stephen

Maher and agreed unanimously.

The New Council

The Scrutineers of the Ballot for

election to the Council made the

following report: