The Gazette 1995

GAZETTE

MAY/JUNE 1995

In the Advisory Section of the Office,

I great potential was stated to exist for

I the use of computer systems in

! • accessing precedents and advices

generated within the office;

• implementing case tracking,

updating and reporting system;

• accessing legal databases (such as

LEXIS, ITELIS, CELEX and

others); and

• automating the registry system.

I A qualified legal librarian was

^ recommended together with

information technology training for

professional and secretarial staff.

Continuing legal education was

recommended as well as a structured

system of appraisal for all staff.

Recruitment To Office

For some inexplicable reason, the

question of recruitment of

professional persons to the Office of

the Attorney General has been a vexed

and controversial issue. See for

! example, the Editorial in the

Gazette

of the Society, July 1994.

The Review Group recommended that

i "consideration be given to extending

eligibility" for the relevant

' competition to solicitors as well as

barristers. The Report noted that this

had been the approach adopted for

some time past by the United

i Kingdom Parliamentary Counsel's

Office and had "proved very

satisfactory there".

In this context, the Head of the

Government Legal Services of

England and Wales with the salary of

circa £95,000.00 (not only subject to

review, but more money may be

available for an exceptional candidate)

| was publicly advertised in May 1995.

i The present holder, Sir

Gerald

Hosker,

KCB, QC, with the title of

Treasury Solicitor retires in October

1995. Reporting directly to the

Attorney General, the Head of the

Government Legal Services is

| responsible for the provision of legal

services to Government Departments

150

and other public bodies in England

and Wales. As well as advising

personally on legal issues, the holder

of the Office heads a Department of

about, 540 staff who also give legal

advice to a number of major

departments, and provide civil

litigation services. The Head of the

Government Legal Service has

oversight for about 1,100 lawyers in

over 30 departments and agencies.

The person appointed becomes

Queen's Proctor, acting for the Crown

in matrimonial and legitimatisation

cases and will be appointed Procurator

General.

Solicitors and barristers, with a

background in public law are eligible

to apply for the above post. The

! solicitor or barrister appointed will be

accountable to Parliament for the

! department's expenditure currently

| about £50 million. Many Irish

solicitors have been admitted as

| solicitors in England and Wales and

i are thus eligible.

Vacancies for Parliamentary Counsel

in England and Wales were also

advertised recently. The job

description was exceedingly

challenging:

"Drafting Bills calls for an

analytical mind, imagination,

mental toughness, physical

endurance, powers of persuasion

and (a quality which may be

acquired by practice) the ability to

express oneself on paper. . . [The]

pressure is sometimes intense, and

the hours of work are not always

predictable. The intrinsic interest

of the work and the difficulties of

the problems to be solved make

the work stimulating and, when

the pressure is great, arduous".

Solicitors and barristers were eligible.

The successful solicitor or barrister

would have a good honour's degree

(which need not be in law) "or show

evidence of comparable intellectual

ability". Solicitors are eligible for

appointment to the High Court in

England and Wales. At the end of

May 1995, an advertisement for the

position of Senior Draftsman in the

Office of the Attorney General

appeared in the National Press.

Solicitors and barristers were eligible

for appointment. This was an historic

moment. The Attorney Genera must

be complimented. Solicitors and

barristers must work together in

harmony with the ultimate vision of

making the world (and Ireland in

particular) a better place in which

to live.

Conclusion

Law is about creating, finding and

using information. One might

automatically assume that the new

information technologies are ideally

suited to law. Yet in mainland Europe,

on-line law research has not been

successful: it is perceived as both

difficult to use and expensive. CD-

ROM is more popular, but still limited

in scope. No one should be too critical I

of the Office of the Attorney General

for its perceived lack of information

technology facilities. However, if all

of the recommendations of the Review

Group are implemented fully, the

Attorney General's Office should

become a

model

legal office.

•

Conference on

Preservation of

Timber in Bui ldings

at TCD

The first international scientific

conference covering the new

strategies for the preservation of

timber, environmental laws and health I

effects in buildings will be held at

Trinity College Dublin on 21 & 22

September 1995. The Conference will

address the issues of green timber

preservation, mycology, entomology,

building construction and

maintenance, health hazards and

environmental policies. The delegate

registration fee is £250. For further

information contact the Conference

Directors:

Dr. Jagjit Singh

Elizabeth McCausland

Tel: 0044 181

784 5717, Fax:

0044 181 784 5700