The Gazette 1958-61

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Council that this, if re-enacted, would give the Dis-

ciplinary Committee ample powers which would not

be unconstitutional.

At the present moment therefore the position is

that the Department are studying the representations

made by the Council and as soon as possible, if neces

sary, the Council will seek another interview with the

Department to press the matter further.

As a result of the lack of disciplinary powers a

number of cases extending over the past two and a

half years await investigation and decision. The

sooner these cases can be dealt with the better. Un

fortunately nothing can now be done in any way to

deal with these cases and when the Disciplinary

Committee obtains new powers there will undoubt

edly be some of the heaviest arrears of work to be

dealt with that has ever been experienced by this

Society.

It must not be thought that every case which comes

before the Disciplinary Committee is a bad one and

that the solicitor has been guilty of misconduct. It is

the experience that in several of the cases investi

gated there is no case for the solicitor to meet and

the proceedings are discharged either on those

grounds or for some other reason. In the other cases,

however misconduct may be proved and in such

cases, the finding of the Committee will be sent

forward to the High Court or to the Chief Justice, as

the case may be, for consideration. As a result of the

delay during the past two and a half years there will,

perhaps in the near future, be a number of cases sent

forward and I think it my duty to warn the profes

sion and the public that this number, whatever it may

be, will be abnormal and will bear no relation what

ever to the present state of the profession and will be

due solely, as I have said, to the fact that the

Disciplinary Committee has been unable to invest-

gate any case since the appeal as to the constitutional

validity of the Solicitors Act, 1954 was first taken

to the Supreme Court in November, 1956.

Now a matter that has been causing me some

thought for some time past is that the profession as a

whole does not pay proper attention to its relations

with the public. As matters stand at present the acts

of one dishonest man can adversely affect the repu

tations of ninety nine honest men and it is my

opinion that this profession should publicise itself

properly and fully to the public. It goes without say

ing that I do not mean that individual solicitors or

firms should advertise for business. But I say that

we should advertise our profession. We should tell

our clients what we do for them and how we do it

and why we do it. It is my experience that when a

client has business with a solicitor, that client only

sees the result. He has little idea of what transpires

by and large, between the time he first gives instruc-

tions and the time that his business is completed.

Nor does he care, provided he gets a result. In my

view, that is a very wrong state of affairs. It is pre

cisely because of this state of affairs that clients are

not aware of what the profession is doing for the

public and how well it is doing it and how much

money, time and trouble is being saved thereby. But

if the client had explained to him by his solicitor each

step and the reason for it, for example, why deeds and

releases are drawn in certain ways to avoid unneces

sary stamp duty and costs and why distributions are

made at certain times and for what reasons, then that

client will have a proper appreciation of what is being

done and why it is being done in that particular way

and how every step affects him. The general public

are perhaps to blame in that they do not ask but in

my view the profession is equally to blame in not

explaining. And it is for this reason and other reasons

that I say that our profession does not publicise itself

sufficiently. I am getting tired indeed of hearing the

whole profession damned because of the dishonesty

or incompetence of a few and that is something

which I will neither subscribe to nor tolerate. It is

time that we took our reputations in hand and dealt

with it now once and for all. And I hope that every

member of this Society must by now realise that

not only is he responsible for his own reputation but

that the reputation and good name of his colleagues

and his fellows equally and most certainly depend

on him.

As evidence of the desire of the profession to see

that no member of the public shall lose by the default

of any member of the profession, let is be made clear

that it was at the suggestion of the profession that

the Compensation Fund was set up under the Act of

1954 and that the Solicitors' Accounts Regulations

were brought into existence. I emphasise here that

these two matters were raised by the profession itself

and were pressed forward by the profession and

nobody else.

Compensation Fund

The Compensation Fund has been in existence

since January, 1955 and to this fund every solicitor

practising in Ireland is now bound to subscribe a

fixed sum every year. While the making of a grant

from the Fund, or the amount of any grant made, is

now a discretionary matter there will be a statutory

obligation on the Society to provide full indemnity

to clients out of the Fund in respect of losses arising

on and after jth January, 1960.

There are two necessary counterparts to

the

Compensation Fund, firstly adequate disciplinary

powers

to deal with proved misconduct, and

secondly and more important, adequate powers

vested in the Society to forestall and prevent defalca

tions, in order to safeguard the profession and the