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Vol. 42
No. 5
November,
1948
THE GAZETTE
of the
INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND
President:
6 HUADHA1GH
Pice-Presidents t
JAMES R. QUIRKE,
JOHN J. SMYTH.
Secretary:
ERIC A. PLUNKETT
FOR CIRCULATION AMONG MEMBERS
MEETING OF THE COUNCIL
OCTOBER 7.
The President in the chair: Also
present: Mr. James R. Quirke, Vice-President;
Messrs. Anthony J. Malone, Francis J. Gearty,
William
J. Norman, Niall S. Gaffney, Daniel
O'Connell, William S. Hayes, Henry P. Mayne,
G. Acheson Overend, Patrick R. Boyd, William L.
Duggan, Reginald J. Nolan, Roger Greene, Dermot
P. Shaw, J. Travers Woulfe, Henry St. J. Blake,
Arthur Cox, John P. Corrigan, Joseph P. Tyrrell,
Thomas A. O'Reilly.
The following was among the business trans
acted :—
Counsel's Fees
THE Council considered a report from a committee
on a difference of opinion as
to counsel's fees.
The facts were as follows :—
In November, 1947, Mr. A., solicitor, who acted
for a local authority, was instructed to act in con
nection with the purchase of a property for £10,600,
on behalf of the local authority and to employ
Mr. B., barrister-at-law, to read the title. Counsel's
fee was not discussed. The title was very compli
cated, and it was necessary to have the conveyance
completed before December ist in order to escape
the new
stamp duties. Counsel accepted
the
instructions without naming his fee. When the
purchase had been completed he returned
the
instructions marked with a fee of 50 guineas. The
County Manager refused to sanction payment of
the sum and instructed Mr. A. to pay a fee of twenty
guineas. Mr. B. refused to accept this. On tax
ation of Mr. A's costs the fee of 50 guineas was
opposed by the solicitor nominated by the County
Manager to appear on the taxation of the costs. As
a compromise, a fee of 30 guineas was suggested.
The County Manager wrote a cheque for this amount
which was tendered to counsel, but he refused to
accept it. Eventually counsel's fee was withdrawn
from the Bill which was taxed without it. Mr. A.
requested the guidance of the Council on the follow
ing points:—