The Gazette 1978

GAZETTE

JULY-AUGUST

1978

would also have the beneficial side effect of providing job

opportunities, albeit, on a short term basis for younger

members of the profession, and indeed the creation of

such an opportunity might be made one of the pre-

conditions for the granting of the allowance.

Legal Practice: Profession or Business?

This brings me to what I am sure most of my

colleagues on the Council, have probably now identified

correctly, as my personal hobby horse, or at least I

thought it was my personal hobby horse, until I attended

recently, at a seminar organised by the International Bar

Association on the topic of professional ethics, at which I

discovered that, no less a person than John Bracken, the

Secretary General of the International Bar Association,

had jumped on the back of my steed, and was rapidly

riding off into the sunset, apparently with the entire

American Supreme Court, similarly mounted, in hot

pursuit. Put in its simplest terms, the U.S. Supreme Court

have come to the conclusion, that the attitude which led

lawyers to look down on trade is an anchronism and with

that sentiment, I heartily, and respectfully, concur. It

seems to me, entirely illogical, that a profession, which

espouses the idea, and in my view, very properly, that the

solicitor is "a man of affairs", should not be in the fore-

front, when it comes to implementing changes in the

organisation of professional practice, which would serve

to bring the organisation of our offices, up to the highest

possible standards, within the limits of our resources.

How can we expect the public to take seriously our advice

to them in regard to the organisation of their business

affairs, if they can observe, for themselves, that we failed

to apply our minds to organising our own affairs

properly? In the past, this aspect of the education of

solicitors has been sadly neglected, but I am satisfied that

the new curriculum will go a very long way towards

remedying this lack. This, however, does not cope with

the problem of encouraging existing members of the pro-

fession to adapt themselves, more rapidly, to modern

office techniques, and to the use of modern aids to greater

efficiency. It is in this field, that I see an immediate oppor-

tunity for continuing legal education under the auspices of

the Society, and I have laid the ground work for a number

of workshops on management accouhting for solicitors,

which I hope will take place in the Autumn. As all our

office expenditures increases, and to be aware, in good

time of the effect that these will have on the profitability of

our practices. The techniques for doing this, are by no

means complicated, and are as applicable to the small

provincial practice as they are to the largest urban

practice.

Again, the very rapid reduction in the capital cost of

word processing equipment and computers has over a

very short space of time, produced a radically different

picture, in regard to the application of computer based

techniques to the smaller professional practice. I hope

that many of you will take the opportunity during the

course of this conference, to watch the demonstrations of

the equipment which has been laid on here, and discuss

with your colleagues, the possible application of these

techniques to your own office procedures. I full accept,

that in many cases you will conclude that this is

something for the future, but for the very near future.

With this end in view, I intend to participate and to

encourage other members of the Council to participate in

the work of the Society for Computers in Law and also in

the work of the Committee of the International Bar

Association dealing with Law Office Management and

Technology, with a view to establishing, when the time is

ripe, an Irish Society for Computers and Law or an ad

hoc Committee of the Society dealing with these topics.

The organisation of our Courts

Having said that I believe that there is much that can

be done to improve the internal organisation of our own

offices, I think I am entitled to say, also, that there is very

much that can be done to modernise and improve the

organisation of our courts and accordingly make the

administration of justice more efficient and cheaper from

the point of view of the general public. In 1962, the then

Minister for Justice, Mr. Charles J. Haughey, T.D.,

appointed a Committee on Court Practice and Procedure,

under the Chairmanship of The Honorable Mr. Justice

Brian Walsh, with the following terms of reference:

"(a) To enquire into the operation of the Courts to

consider whether the cost of litigation could be

reduced, and the convenience of the public and the

efficient dispatch of civil and criminal business,

more effectively secured by amending the law in

relation to the jurisdiction of the various courts, and

by making change, by legislation or otherwise in

practise and procedure,

(b) To consider whether, and if so to what extent, the

existing right to jury trial in civil cases should be

abolished or modified,

arising out of the Committee's terms of reference, as

may from time to time appear to the Committee to

merit immediate attention or to warrant separate

treatment."

Between March, 1963, and May, 1972, the Committee

made 18 interim reports to successive Ministers for

Justice. Many of-these reports have been implemented,

either in whole or in part by changes in court rules and in

some cases by legislation. However, it is notable that

some of the more radical reforms which were advocated

by the Committee and in particular some of the recom-

mendations contained in chapter six of the 12th Interim

Report, under the title, Courts Organisation, have not

been implemented, and that also certain of the reforms

which were implemented, in particular, those related to

increases in jurisdiction have been overtaken by inflation

in the meantime. The Minister for Justice, Mr. Collins, in

response to questions put to him in Dáil Éireann, in recent

months, has indicated that he intends to reconstitute the

Committee on Court Practice and Procedure, and to ask

it to consider certain specific matters related to court

organisation and I understand that the committee has

now been reconstituted.

In preparing this address, I have studied various

interim reports issued by the committee, while being

struck by the very excellent work which was done by the

committee, I would respectfully suggest, to the Minister,

that to reconstitute the committee without taking certain

preliminary decisions, which would enable their

deliberations to be effective, will result in what can only

really be described as tinkering with existing systems

where a radical overhaul is required.

A committee consisting of judges and practising '

barristers and solicitors with the help of a number of

interested and well informed lay-men, while clearly being

in a position to offer helpful guidance to the Minister, are

not equipped either in terms of time or of research staff, to

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