The Gazette 1974

any profession were agreeable, on these conditions, that

public representatives of the necessary authority and

calibre should be included on the committee. The

Minister at the time appeared to be sympathetic to-

wards the Society's proposals.

Unfortunately since then events have taken a

different course. There is no Central Costs Committee;

applications for increases in fees must still be made to

five or six committees, acting independently; reviews of

fees after authorisation by the appropriate committee

in some cases must await concurrance of the Minister

for Justice, and a further barrier has now been created

in the requirement in prices legislation of the consent

of the Minister for Industry and Commerce, generally

after consulting the National Prices Advisory Com-

mittee. The tribunal set up under the recent Prices

(Amendment) Act is not the type of Central Costs

Committee envisaged in the Society's representations

to the Minister for Justice. It includes no representa-

tion from the Judiciary or the professional experts

such as Accountants who from their daily practice are

familiar with Solicitors' earnings and the conditions

under which they work. One of the main tasks of the

incoming Council will be to approach the Minister for

Justice with proposals for a speedy system of reviewing

applications in relation to Solicitors' fee at regular

intervals to keep pace with inflation and to review

the whole field of fees in the light of the principles of

cross subsidisation. There are some fields of practice

which could not be accepted or continued unless sub-

sidised by earning, from probate, conveyances and other

non-contentious work.

The "New" Schedule 2

In the "typescript" of my notes the word "new"

appears in inverted commas. Originally all Solicitors

fees had to be set out in a document resembling a

surveyors bill of quantities, each item such as letters,

attendances, and copying being priced in a prescribed

scale. This is still the position in theory if not in prac-

tice. A patient who would pay his Medical Practitioner

or Dentist a fee of 100 Guineas on a sheet of pro-

fessional stationery with the specification "Professional

Services rendered" might request his Solicitor to furnish

a bill of costs running to 30 or 40 pages. The cost of

preparing such bills is exorbitant, apart from the delay

involved and sometimes the impossibility of having such

bills prepared. One argument for the commission scale

fee on sales and purchases is that it is simple, acceptable

to the public and avoids the delay and expense of de-

tailed bills. A new and simplified Schedule 2 system was

introduced in England in 1953 and in Northern Ire-

land within the past two years. A bill of fees in a non-

contentious matter is now one item being a discre-

tionary fee calculated in accordance with seven specific

factors described in the Order. The considerations are

the skill, time necessarily involved in the transaction,

the number of documents read and examined, the

amount of any property involved, the responsibility of

the Solicitor and all other relevant circumstances of the

case. In England and Northern Ireland the client re-

viewing such a bill is entitled to ask for a certificate

of reasonableness from the Law Society. In my

opinion, the time has arrived for the adoption of a

similar system in the Republic for all non-contentious

work not included in the commission fees. Pending the

introduction of such a system my advice to members

is that agreements on reasonable fees should be made

with clients, and gross sum bills should be delivered

bearing a proper relation to the current financial and

economic conditions. Such agreements and gross sum

bills are authorised by the Solicitors' Remuneration

General Orders.

Solicitors and the

E.E.C.

A Standing Committee of the Council has been set

up to help practitioners who find themselves confronted

with legal problems involving the law of the Com-

munity advising clients with business transactions

with European connotations. Meetings have been held

with representatives of the University Law faculties,

the National Library and the Departments of Foreign

Affairs and Justice. At present, the immediate prob-

lems fall under two main heads :

first

, the establish-

ment of an information service for members allied with

a central depositary library in Dublin for all E.E.C.

legal material, and

second

the effect on Irish practi-

tioners of the proposed directives removing the restric-

tions on freedom of movement and practice by Lawyers

in the Member-States. The first of the problems which

I have mentioned is ultimately financial. Very large

sums of money will be required to equip a depository

library with the vast amount of legal documents and

text books coming from and concerning the E.E.C.

A working party has been set up to explore and report

back to the main committee. The financial difficulties

are so formidable that without Government assistance

they may well be insuperable. The Committee has been

in constant liaison with the representatives of the De-

partment who deal with negotiations in Brussels on the

directives of freedom of movement. I do not propose

to enlarge further on this subject at present as it could

in itself form the whole subject of my address, beyond

indicating that it engages the constant attention of the

Council.

Legal Education

Here again I touch on a vast subject and I must refer

you to the current and previous reports of the Council

and the Gazette for detailed information. It also formed

a major part of my address at the ordinary General

Meeting last May in Killarney. I, therefore, do not

propose to enlarge on it except to say that in July

representatives of the Council were received by the ne\v

Minister for Justice. They supplied him with a dossier

of the Society's proposals from 1961 to the present date.

He expressed agreement in principle with them and

suggested that we should enter into discussions with

the Universities and then resubmit the matter to him-

I am informed that it took 12 years negotiation with

the Department of Justice to achieve the passing of the

Solicitors' Act 1954. If the present negotiations about

education take the same time we may expect to have

them in operation in 1981. I hope I am not being

cynical and I do not intend to be. The Minister has

expressed goodwill and you may rest assured that the

Society for its part will leave nothing undone to bring

about the reform of our educational system which

everybody concerned agrees is in the public interest.

Retirement of Mr. Plunkett

A most important event in the history of the Society

has taken place during my year of office. I refer to the

retirement from the post of Secretary of Mr. Eric Plun-

kett which post he had filled with such remarkable

distinction since the year 1942. His retirement rathe*

saddens us Solicitors and indeed all who had the

pleasure and privilege of knowing him. Mr. Plunkett

was at all times an inspiration and a shining example

of all that is good and worth while in our profession-

On behalf of the Law Society and all its members I