The Gazette 1977

GAZETTE

MAY-JUNE

the public image of the profession. No matter how small

or how large an office is, there should be one person in

charge of administration, and it should be this person's

responsibility to instruct staff how to deal with the public,

and particularly on the telephone. How often does one

hear at 10.05 a.m. in the morning when one rings a

colleague "He's not in yet". Again, at 5 p.m. in the

evening "He went home early". It is so easy to have it as a

rule of the office that if a person is with a client that they

are in consultation, and, therefore, that they should not be

disturbed. Some of our colleagues, when they are taking

instructions from a client, take phone calls in front of him

and discuss other clients' business. All these things give a

very bad impression, which is a pity because they are so

easy to rectify. Another trap that you can so easily fall

into is not to make it clear to the telephonist that anybody

who rings must leave their name, and they should as well

be asked for their telephone number. This will avoid the

senseless statement which a client will make when he says

that he called you six times and you never returned his

call. He is speaking truthfully but what he does not say —

probably does not think about — is he never left his name

on any of the occasions, and that is your fault really

because your office administration has not been geared

properly.

Another thing which you should never do is to instruct

your secretary to ring a colleague. For some reason some

of our colleagues go berserk if one's secretary rings them.

The way round this it to get your secretary to ring your

colleague's secretary. Honour appears to be satisfied then.

Try and keep the office tidy, although with the vast

amount of paper that a solicitor has to cope with this is a

never-ceasing battle. But picture yourself if you went into

a professional adviser outside the law and there were

papers everywhere. Two feet of them on the desk. Spread

all over the floor. Heaps of them under the carpet. What

would you think? Probably "It is time for me to go before

I get involved with this mad man".

Obligations:

Probably the greatest obligation which we have is the

confidentiality of our clients business. It is to the

redounding crediTof those who work in solicitors' offices

that with very few exceptions no breach of a confidential

matter ever emanates from a member of a solicitor's staff.

That is why it is essential for the solicitor himself to guard

against mentioning anything which can identify the

business of his client. I regard it as an obligation to do

your utmost to stand by your colleagues and to try to

keep them right whenever you can. If you make it a point

of always being fair to your colleagues they will

reciprocate in the same manner to you, and the goodwill

of your colleagues can be of enormous help to you in a

time of need, so always work with your colleagues and

never against them.

Don't take on impossible situations — such as acting

for a lessor and a lessee. Indeed the golden rule is never to

try to work for two masters, because when the trouble

starts, or when there is a falling out, it is probably much

too late to withdraw with dignity.

Do not unfairly attract business by doing cut-price

work. In the end you will find that you have many, many

clients all expecting you to do the job cheaper than the

last time, and because you are working so cheaply the

staff you employ will be inferior and you cannot afford to

employ assistants, and in the end your last state will be so

horrific you will wonder why you ever qualified as a

solicitor in the first place. Remember that there is no such

thing as a simple conveyancing transaction any more, and

that with inflation we are shortly approaching, in Registry

of Deeds cases, a situation where we have levelled off at a

one per cent charge. I will not go into the detail of the

number of steps now involved in a conveyancing

transaction. I recollect doing this exercise on one occas-

sion some years ago, and, since then, there have been

three or four new steps added, and coming out at thirty. If

you are going to have your client's sale closed on time

and avoid additional interest charges, and give an efficient

service, you can only work for the scale fee.

Some solicitors when they qualify close their books —

give a deep sigh of relief — and say I am finished with all

that. Anybody who thinks that way should think again,

because it is essential for you to keep up-to-date with all

the changes in the law, the same way as a doctor has to

keep up-to-date with all changes in medicine. Therefore,

apart from your own individual activity in reading new

Acts of Parliament you should attend the Seminars of the

Incorporated Law Society and the Society of Young

Solicitors. I strongly advise you, immediately you qualify,

to join these societies,and, of course, your local Bar

Association, and the Solicitors' Benevolent Association. It

is most desirable for you to volunteer, if you are not

already involved, to assist the Free Legal Advice Centres,

which fulfil the need which is met in most other countries

of Western Europe by a free legal aid system.

I wish you every happiness and success as solicitors,

and I look forward to co-operating with you in practice in

the not too distant future.

LAW EXAMINATION RESULTS

(Continued from page 88)

O'Carroll, Seamus P.; O'Connor, Kevin.

O'Connor, Michael F.; O'Donovan, Irene; O'Driscoll,

Clara; O'Dwyer, Thomas; O'Gara, Yvonne; O'Grady,

William F.; O'Leary, Cornelius; O'Mahony, Timothy,

O'Neill, John J.; O'Reilly, Niall; O'Reilly, William;

O'Shee, J. John; O'Tuama, Cliona; Parkinson, Kenneth;

Reilly, Peter.

Robinson, Barbara Ann; Roche, Luke; Rooney,

Kevin; Ryan-Purcell, Oliver; Scally, James; Shanley,

Colman D.; Shannon, Robert; Sheppard, Pamela J.;

Sparks, Conor; Twomey, Mary A.; Tynan, Dorothy;

Wallace, Patrick A.; Walsh, Anne R.; White, William X.

170 Candidates attended; 107 Candidates passed.

By Order

James J. Ivers,

Director General.

SOLICITORS' GOLFING SOCIETY

The next outing, the Captain's (W. R. White) Prize,

will be held at the Heath Golf Club, Portlaoise, on

Friday, 30th September, 1977.