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GAZETTE
JULY/AUGUST 1985
President's Address
Presentation of Parchments, 4 July, 1985
T
HIS momentous day is the culmination of many
years of effort and work. In nearly every case
however, it is not just your own effort and work. The help,
support and personal sacrifice, both in time and money
from parents, relatives and friends is a major factor in
your success to-day. I would like to pay tribute to all those
who have helped in this way.
Your years of being a student are over, and a lifetime of
work is beginning. You are entering a profession with a
spirit and tradition of service to the people of this country.
Being a Solicitor is something in the nature of a vocation,
but for your own sake and the sake of your clients, you
must run it as an efficient business. I would like to
mention some matters to bear in mind when in practice:—
1. The solicitors' profession has fiercely guarded its
independence for years and indeed centuries. This
independence means that when we are advising a
client, we are thinking only of that client's interests.
It is essential to make sure that this will continue to
be so. Situations of conflict of interest, or potential
conflict of interest, arise on different occasions. D o
not let any such situation develop. The fundamental
principle is that no man can serve two masters.
Losing a job by declining to act in a particular
matter because of a conflict of interest is a small
price to pay for the service that you are doing the
client, and for the peace of mind that you will retain.
2. Sensitivity. You may be surprised at my using this
word. The average commercial client will certainly
not associate that word with his or her Solicitor,
because the emphasis in commercial transactions is
that good advice is given and the work done
efficiently and quickly. For the personal client,
however, the situation is different. Very often, the
only time a personal client comes to see a Solicitor is
at a time of considerable stress. For example;
(i) To buy a house. In many cases, a person will
only buy one house in his or her lifetime, and it
may well be the biggest financial transaction
of his life.
(ii) After a traumatic road accident, a person, or
the relatives of that person will come to a
Solicitor for the purpose of taking an action
against the other party involved in the
accident.
(iii) When a parent or relative has died, a person
will come to see a Solicitor so that the Solicitor
can deal with the administration of the Estate.
(iv) In the case of a break-down of a marriage, or
difficulties in a marriage.
In all the above cases, and many more, it is
important that the Solicitor dealing with these
matters is sensitive enough to realise just how upset
the client is, as well as providing a competent and
efficient service. I believe that a vast number of
clients find their Solicitors extremely understanding
and helpful, and I trust that you will continue that
tradition.
3. Integrity. It is impossible to stress too much or too
often the importance of maintaining the very
highest standard of integrity. It is essential, from
both the client's point of view and your own, that
the client trusts you, and that you are worthy of that
trust. You have only one life and one reputation. D o
not risk that reputation to please a client who is
trying to put pressure on you to do something which
you know you should not do.
4. Courtesy to your colleagues. I have noticed in the
last few years that a very small minority of Solicitors
seem to think courtesy with their colleagues may
imply that they are not acting fully in the interests
of, or aggresively enought on behalf of, their clients.
This is patent nonsense. It is very important, as I
mentioned before, to act fully in your client's
interest, but there is never any need, in so doing, to
be discourteous to your colleague. For example, in
the matter of agreeing to an adjournment, it is the
client's decision as to whether or not an
adjournment is or is not to be agreed to.
5. I would also like to refer to the matter of
communication with your client. This is an age of
communication, and people expect not only that a
job will be done, but that they will be informed as to
how it is progressing. Make sure that you explain to
your client what is involved in the job, and how it is
progressing. Here in the Society, we receive a
number of complaints about delays by Solicitors.
Some of these are justified, but in quite a number of
cases, the delay is caused by some factor or
Government agency which is totally outside the
Solicitor's control but this fact has not been fully
communicated to the client. Not only is it important
to do the work for the client, but it is very important
to explain to the client exactly what complications
and time delays are involved.
We live in exciting but difficult times. The Law Society,
which as of to-day is your Law Society, is very active in
trying to help its members to adjust to changes which have
happened and which will happen. I urge you to keep
closely in touch with the Law Society, which is here to
help and also to listen to suggestions, whether of a broad
philosophical nature, or whether relating to specific
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