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Another nefarious practice which I think it is
my duty to bring to the notice of our members is
what is commonly called ambulance chasing.
It is,
of course, a serious offence for any solicitor to tout
for business in this manner, but a new refinement
of this practice has recently been devised.
The
Council have received complaints that there is now
at least one non-legal association of this kind in
Ireland who
send
representatives
to
interview
injured persons and suggest that they should instruct
a solicitor chosen by the Association in place of the
injured person's own solicitor.
The activities of
such Associations are clearly a menace to
the
profession and the Council are considering making
a new regulation under the Professional Practice
Regulations to prohibit any solicitor from acting for
such bodies.
The fact that the standard of living in the solicitor's
profession has substantially fallen in comparison
with the greater financial rewards to be won in
business, and the further fact that the profession is
considerably over-manned and that the number of
practising solicitors does not yet show any sign of
decreasing, should be taken into very careful con
sideration by the parents of any boy or girl who is
considering being apprenticed unless there is an
opening available in a family firm for the boy or girl
when he or she becomes qualified.
The Council are much concerned regarding the
absence of suitable legal textbooks dealing with the
law in Ireland for the use of both practitioners and
students. More than ten years ago the government
agreed to make a sum of £7,500 available to the
Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for the
publication of practitioners textbooks. No active
steps have ever been taken by the Council of Law
Reporting to obtain offers from professional authors
and no use has been made of the government's offer
to provide this money. There is a great need for
up-to-date books on many branches of law in this
country, but particularly on practice, and the Council
through its representatives on the Law Reporting
Council is pressing for some definite action.
The Publications Committee has published an
advertisement inviting offers from suitable persons
for the publication of students' textbooks, of which
there is an urgent need, at the expense of the Society.
A number of offers have been received. The Council
wish to obtain the widest possible response and it is
important that the information should be widely
circulated that the Society are willing to finance
suitable publications of this nature. If our appren
tices are
to have
the opportunity
to prepare
themselves properly for our own examinations it is
essential that textbooks should be available for them
dealing with the law as it stands to-day in Ireland.
It is hoped that some competent young solicitors,
barristers or court officials who have sufficient time
available will offer to write the necessary textbooks
in consultation with the Society.
The present
position of law reporting in this country is also
unsatisfactory owing to the delay in producing the
official reports of cases. I understand that apart from
the government the Society is the largest single
contributor to the cost of publishing the law reports.
Apparently there is some arrangement in existence
between the Judges and the Bar Council that a copy
of each judgment delivered is filed in the law library.
If our Society could also obtain a copy of each
judgment we would arrange to have them filed and
indexed in the library, so that they would be available
for reference to members of the Society during the
period prior to their appearing in the official reports.
The new Professional Policy Committee have been
meeting regularly, but their time has been largely
occupied with the details of the new Solicitors
Amendment Bill, to which I have already referred,
and to all the implications arising from it, and they
have had very little time as a result to devote to
improving the public relations of the profession with
the public, which I anticipate will be their major
function in the future.
I understand that the Law
Society of England have greatly enhanced
the
standing of the profession in England by suggesting
necessary changes in the law and taking the initiative
in promoting legislation on these lines instead of
merely criticising Bills after they have been intro
duced. There is certainly abundant scope for the
reform of various branches of the law in this country,
and I would very much like to see the Policy Com
mittee or some other Committee of the Council
looking into this matter when time can be found to
tackle it.
The tendency in both England and Scotland and
to a somewhat lesser extent in Northern Ireland
seems to be towards the amalgamation of firms. In
Ireland we are inclined to be by nature individualistic,
but I think that this tendency to amalgamate is
bound to spread to this country in order to reduce
the tremendous cost of overheads and to permit of
greater mechanisation in the office equipment and
better organisation. From the professional point of
view I believe that this will be a desirable develop
ment. In a partnership the accountancy must be kept
accurate and up-to-date and as the law becomes more
and more complex
it
is becoming
increasingly
difficult for any one solicitor to be a master of every
branch of it.
In a partnership the partners have
much more opportunity to specialise and to keep
themselves completely efficient in their own line
with obvious advantage to their clients. Moreover
I am convinced that however good a brain any
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