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compelled to reveal any confidential information or
communication that he may have obtained from, for or
on behalf of his client. This right of privilege creates
the protection that a Solicitor needs to enable him to
preserve this essential secrecy in regard to Solicitor and
client communications and information. It can be com-
pared to the seal of confession in the Catholic religion
and in fact it has been argued that the Law regards
the privilege of a Solicitor concerning his Solicitor/
Client relationship as even more sacrosanct than the
seal of confession whether it be under the Civil or
under the moral law. Thus even when giving evidence
in Court, a Solicitor is entitled to claim privilege as
justification for refusal to answer a question that might
involve his having to reveal confidential information
obtained from a client in the course of a Solicitor and
client relationship.
Edmund Burke once said that the practice of Law,
while it broadens the intellect, narrows the mind. I
have often given much thought to the full implications
of this remark and while it is open to various inter-
pretation I feel that it nevertheless serves to remind
us of the necessity that, as practising Solicitors, we
should involve ourselves in the continuing process of
education. While it is highly desirable to endeavour
to familiarise oneself as a practising Solicitor with all
important new pieces of legislation, the simplest method
of keeping up to date with current developments in the
Law is to subscribe to at least one, and preferably
several, of the available Law Journals. Each member
of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland receives
the Society's monthly Gazette, the scope and content of
which have happily undergone considerable improve-
ment under its Editor, Mr. Golum Gavan Duffy. A
Solicitor's obligation to keep himself fully informed of
all new developments and changes in the Law, parti-
cularly in the context of Ireland's membership of the
European Economic Gommunity and the current pro-
gramme of Law Reform, can be discharged by atten-
dance at the Seminars and Study weekends organised
by the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland and the
Society of Young Solicitors and other organisations
which from time to time organise Seminars on specific
legal topics.
I am personally convinced that the Solicitor's pro-
fession is about to undergo very considerable expansion
and steps are now being taken to ensure that the
system of legal education is adequate to meet the
demands of such expansion and the new areas of work
which will properly be the reserve of the legal pro-
fession if we equip ourselves by our education and
training as I feel we must, to handle it. Notwithstand-
ing this projected expansion and the increase even in
the range of our existing activities and services and the
public's requirement for us to handle these it must be
remembered that we are only some 1,500 Solicitors
who have traditionally been rightly regarded as a con-
servative profession not given to specialisation. Not-
withstanding the lack of scope for specialisation for
various economic and technical reasons apart from
limited specialisation in the larger cities there is a very
firm obligation on Solicitors not to take on or attempt
to perform work for which they have neither aptitude
nor experience and while it is appreciated that this may
be a problem in the remoter rural areas it is highly
desirable that Solicitors should refer particular types of
work to colleagues experienced in that type of work
and that reciprocity in this regard from their colleagues
should apply. This is a difficult question but there is a
clear obligation on Solicitors in this regard and the
taking on of work which is subsequently not per-
formed because a Solicitor has neither the experience
nor capacity to perform it is the root cause of some of
the most consistent complaints against the Solicitors'
profession.
Before concluding, there is one other obligation which
in this instance you owe as a duty to your professional
colleagues and that is not to indulge in undercharging
as a means of unfairly attracting business which is
simply another form of touting. Any Solicitor who
indulges in this type of activity is compromising him-
self seriously with the prospective clients and becomes
their virtual hostage before he even starts to act for
them. From the client's point of view, the invariable
experience is that a cut price fee involves a cut price
job resulting in a considerable diminution of the service
given. This brings not only the Solicitor in question
but the entire profession into serious disrepute. Every
man is worthy of his hire and this applies particularly
to the Solicitors' profession and it is not necessary to
go into the reasons why Solicitors need to be adequately
remunerated for their services. It is an economic fact of
costing that undercharging results in the entire opera-
tion of the Solicitors' practise being uneconomic and
thus in effect unremunerative.
Never forget that your professional colleagues are
amongst your best guarantees of your survival and you
can rely on them with very few exceptions to render
you whatever assistance you may require and to help
you over any difficulties that you may encounter either
through inadvertance or inexperience. In addition, the
services of the Secretariat of the Incorporated Law
Society are fully at your disposal and I would finally
strongly advise you to become members of the Incor-
porated Law Society of Ireland whose membership
and services are very well worth the modest annual
subscription. You should also join your local Bar Asso-
ciation and involve yourself responsibly in the affairs
of your local community, which as a member of the
Solicitors' profession you will already be regarded in
somewhat of a privileged position although you may
not fully appreciate this fact at first. You should also
join the Society of Young Solicitors which runs
Seminars and supplies transcripts of lectures which are
now an invaluable and integral part of the continuing
process of the Irish Solicitors' education. I would also
strongly encourage you to give every assistance to the
Free Legal Advice Centres known as FLAG whose
magnificent work in the absence of a Civil Legal Aid
Scheme and adequate Social Advice Services is not
even yet fully appreciated and their efforts and their
activities depend to a considerable extent on the assis-
vidual members of the Solicitors' profession and on
whom they voluntarily depend. It is also most desirable
that you become a member of the Solicitors' Benevolent
Association which has for so long done so much for
the less fortunate members of the profession and their
dependants.
It only remains for me to hope that your patience
and attention will be rewarded by a long and fruitful
career in one of the noblest professions which I hope
it will soon be your privilege to practise in the service
of your community and your country.
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