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THE INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND
GAZETTE
OCTOBER 1 9 78
VOL . 7 2
NO. 8
Annual Report
of the Council
1977-78
THE
PRESIDENT'S
REPORT
The President
Joseph L. Dundon
1.1
The past year has been a momentous one in the life of our Society, bringing to a
conclusion enterprises which have taken several years to complete. Not only have we
completed the restoration and remodelling of our new premises and our Law School but
we have also completed the task which has been going on now for several years of
remodelling our system of education. Within the next few months the new system will
begin its full operation but it will be several years before the full effects of the change,
effects which we are satisfied will be very beneficial both for the practitioner and the
public whom he serves, begin to emerge.
1.2
A detailed description of the activities of the Council and its Committees appears
elsewhere in this Report and I do not propose to dwell on them further. My year in office
has given me the opportunity of meeting colleagues from many parts of the world, parti-
cularly from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and further afield from other
countries in the European Economic Community. With my Vice-Presidents I also had an
opportunity of visiting Luxembourg, and having discussions with the members of the
European Court of Justice. More recently, while attending the International Bar Associ-
ation Conference in Sydney, I had the opportunity of meeting with and discussing the
problems of the legal profession, with lawyers from all over the world.
1.3
It is clear that the practice of law and the conduct of those who practise law has
come under the closest scrutiny in many countries in the recent past. This is particularly
so in the various parts of the United Kingdom where the Royal Commissions are still
examining the whole nature and structure of the system of provision of legal services. It
also obtains in Australia where a similar commission is in operation and in the United
States where the American Bar Association has been involved in various investigations
inaugurated by the Federal Government. We in our turn have been the subject of an
enquiry by the National Prices Commission, and references are made elsewhere in this
Report to the pending enquiry by the Restrictive Practices Commission.
1.4
We can learn much from these various commissions of enquiry and in parti-
cular, we can learn from the responses which our colleagues in other countries have made
to them. The appropriate response and the one which we should seek to make to any
enquiry of this kind is not a strenuous defence of ancient privilege but a positive statement
of the value to the community of a highly-skilled and highly-motivated legal profession,
ready and able to serve the needs of every citizen. No democratic country can function