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REGISTRARS
COMMITTEE
Gerard M. Doyle,
Chairman
Walter Beatty
John F. Buckley
Anthony E. Collins
Laurence Cullen
James R. C. Green
Brendan A. McGrath
Patrick F. O'Donnell
David R. Pigot
Mrs. Moya Quinlan
3.1 Under the Bye-Laws of the Council the following are delegated to the Registrars
Committee:
(1) The functions of the Society under Sections 31, 33, 34, 35, 48, 49 and 51 of the Solicitors'
Act 1954 and under regulations made pursuant to Section 40 (2) (a), 40 (5) (b) and 66 of
the said Act and the functions of the Society under Section 26 of the Solicitors' (Amendment)
Act 1960.
(2) The consideration of complaints against Solicitors.
(3) The institution of proceedings against Solicitors on behalf of the Society before the
Disciplinary Committee for the time being of any Court.
Consequently the Committee are able to deal with these matters without referring them back
to the Council for approval. From the above it is fair to say that in general all matters within
the jurisdiction of the Registrar's Committee relate to the fitness, capacity and conduct of
Solicitors.
3.2 During the year the Committee held 16 Meetings and dealt with about 300 cases of
complaints against Solicitors. These were the cases which could not be resolved by the
Secretariat of the Society due to lack of co-operation by the offending Solicitor or because
of the circumstance of the case.
Upwards of 20 letters of complaint are received by the Society each week. A random spot
check for the month of March 1974 disclosed that 86 letters of complaint went out to various
Solicitors. These letters did not include the more obvious complaints which the Society cannot
entertain.
3.3 Complaints in writing when received are read by the Secretariat. If an obvious form of
reply is not available the Society sends a copy of the letter to the Solicitor named in the letter
with a request for the Solicitor's assistance in answering the letter addressed to the Society-
A complaint is very often in manuscript and furthermore may disclose a complete lack ot
knowledge of the legal procedures involved. However, the Society must read a letter of com-
plaint as a query and write to the Solicitor concerned to fill in the particulars which may he
absent. The alternative would be to write to the complainant requesting further and better
particulars in order to satisfy the Secretariat that a prima facie complaint may lie against the
Solicitor.
3.4 The most regular types of complaint are set out hereunder and there is no doubt that in
recent times, the number of complaints has increased and the public esteem of the Profession
is suffering sadly through the bad conduct of some Solicitors. In the course of its work over
the year the Committee has noticed that there are persistent malefactors whose names come up
time and time again. The Committee has power and uses it from time to time to summon such
Members before it in the hope that they will do something in ease of a long suffering client,
or relieve a fellow colleague of further stress by dealing with the particular problem involved.
3.5 If Solicitors are to remain in the forefront as an independent Profession, then the execution
of their duties in a conscientious, diligent and reasonably speedy way is paramount as the
public (backed up by many vigilant bodies of social reform) will no longer tolerate some of
the treatment meted out to them by some of our members against whom justifiable complaints
are made, but seek to have their legal affairs dealt with, perhaps by a State legal service bureau-
Gerard M. Doyle,
Chairman
3.6
The more frequent complaints are as follows:
(i)
DELA Y:
Very often a person makes a complaint about another party's Solicitor holding up
a transaction. In such a case the Society generally writes to the complainant informing hin
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that the Society must decline to intervene in the matter as there is no Solicitor/Client relation-
ship between the complainant and the Solicitor concerned. The Society's consideration of the
complainant query should not purport to offer any opinion on the legal aspect of the matter.
(ii)
TITLE DOCUMENTS:
Where a complainant writes to the Society stating that he cannot
get documents from his Solicitor, the Society writes two letters; one to the complainant stating
that the matter is clearly provided for in Section 11 of the Attorneys' & Solicitors' Act 1849
which allows a person to apply to Court etc. and the other to the Solicitor advising him of the
complaint made and also of the advice given to the complainant.
(iii)
LEGAL ADVICE:
Persons writing for Legal advice are informed that they should consult
a Solicitor.
(iv)
NEGLIGENCE:
If a complainant alleges that a Solicitor has been negligent, the Society
will write to him stating that it may only entertain complaints which allege professional mis*
conduct. The term "Professional Misconduct" is defined for the complainant and he is informed
that it does not include negligence by Solicitors. Consequently, the Society must decline to
intervene in the matter.
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