264 / 338
EXPLANATORY NOTE.
(This note is notpart of the instrument and does not purport to be a
leffll interpretation thereof?)
This order—
(a) applies to solicitors' costs for non-contentious business,
(If)
simplifies the system of charging by reducing the number
of items,
(c)
amends certain existing conditions in the furnishing of
gross sum bills,
(</) authorises certain increases in the item charges,
(e) removes a doubt by expressly authorising solicitors to
charge the commission scale fee on the occasion of the
first assignment of a leasehold interest, and
(/) authorises a solicitor who negotiates a lease or letting to
charge for such negotiations under the order.
Except as stated at («) and
(f)
above, the order does not
affect the present commission scale fee on sales, purchases or
leases.
SOLICITORS' (AMENDMENT) ACT
1960
The Solicitors' (Amendment) Act 1960 came into
operation on zznd November 1960 and except for
the provisions of Section 31 relating to Accountants'
Certificates, is now in force. It amends the Solicitors'
Act 1954, mainly in relation to the powers of the
Disciplinary Committee arising from the decision of
the Supreme Court in the case of O'Farrell and
Gorman against the Society in February, 1958. In
Section 3 the definition of misconduct includes a
contravention of any provision of the Solicitors'
Acts of 1954 and of 1960, or of any order or regula
tion made thereunder, or conduct tending to bring
the solicitors' profession into disrepute. This in
cludes the provisions of the Professional Practices
Regulations 1955, which prohibit canvassing, unfair
attraction of business and holding out as being
willing to cut costs.
Part II (Sections 6 to 18) deals with disciplinary
powers. The Disciplinary Committee shall consist
of not more than ten and not less than seven
members of the Council appointed by the President
of the High Court, its quorum shall be three, and
the Society shall defray its costs and expenses. The
jurisdiction of the new Disciplinary Committee
on applications against solicitors is substantially the
same as that of the former Statutory Committee
under the Solicitors' (Ireland) Act 1898, which was
repealed by the Act of 1954. The orders which the
High Court may make on a report from the Com
mittee are contained in Section 8.
The Disciplinary Committee may decide to accede
to an application by a solicitor to have his name
removed from the roll, otherwise a report is for
warded to the High Court.
The High Court alone shall have power to order
that the name of a solicitor who has been struck off
the roll shall be restored to the roll. Any solicitor
in respect of whom an order was made by the former
Disciplinary Committee under Section 18 of the
Solicitors' Act 1954 must appear before the High
Court, if the Society applies by notice of motion;
in such case, all previous affidavits and documentary
evidence shall be admissible as evidence and the
High Court, after reading these documents, and
hearing any additional evidence tendered by the
Society, or by the solicitor, shall treat the case as if
it had been first brought under this Act.
An order of the High Court under this jurisdiction
will be final, but an appeal to the Supreme Court
lies by leave of the High Court on a question
of law. All matters and documents which were
before the former or present Disciplinary Committee,
and the reports brought before the High Court are
absolutely privileged. As regards the enforcement
of the attendance of witnesses, and the compelling
of the production of documents, the Disciplinary
Committee shall have the same powers as the High
Court, and may bring before the High Court any
offender to be punished for contempt of Court. A
copy of every order made by the High Court under
the Act, or of an order by the Disciplinary Com
mittee removing a solicitor from the roll at his own
request shall be filed with the Registrar. Notice of
such orders shall be published in " Iris Oifigiuil ".
Proceedings before the Disciplinary Committee shall
be a legal proceeding within the Bankers' Books
Evidence Acts 1879 and 1959.
Part III (Sections 19 to 24) deals with the control
of the solicitor's property and with the Compensation
Fund. Under the first heading the existing provisions
of the Solicitors' Act 1954 with regard to taking
over documents and applications to freeze a bank
account are re-enacted with certain minor amend
ments. These provisions are for the protection of
the Compensation Fund. The Society shall continue
to maintain and administer the Compensation Fund
in accordance with the provisions of the Third
Schedule, and the principles upon which the Society
will make grants for losses suffered by clients are
fully set out. Before a practising certificate is issued
to any solicitor in respect of the practice year
1961-62, he shall pay to the Society an annual con
tribution of twenty pounds, which is reduced to five
pounds in the case of solicitors who have been
admitted for less than three years. The Society shall
have regard to the principle of maintaining the total
amount standing to" the credit of the Compensation
Fund at £25,000 after providing for all liabilities,
and in reducing the amount of the annual contribu
tion for any subsequent practice year, are to have
regard to this principle.
Section 21 (5)
(c)
gives an important discretion
to the Society in considering an application for
compensation. The application may be refused, or